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IDA HOLDING SHAG. Pa^e 106- 





FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


THIRD OF THE ROSE DALE BOOKS. 


EASY READING 

FOR THE DEAR LITTLE ONES. 

€ 

BY 

MRS. D. P. SANFORD, 

AUTHOR OF “ PUSSY TIP-TOES* FAMILY,” “ FRISK AND HIS FLOCK,” “ STORIES OF 

cora’s childhood,’ “under the skylight, and other stories for 

CHRISTMAS,” ETC., ETC. 


NEW YORK: 

E. P. DUTTON AND COMPANY, 

713 Broadway. 

1S75. 



Entered, according 1 to Act of Congress, in the year 1871 


11Y E. 1\ DUTTON AND COMPANY, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 


LC Control Number 



2005 416511 


Electrotyped at the Boston Stereotype Foundry, 

No. 19 Spring Lane. 

RIVERSIDE, CAMBRIDGE: 
PRINTED BY IT. O. HOUGHTON AND COMPANY. 



CONTENTS 


PAGE 

I. Here we are Again 7 

II. The Birth-Day 19 

III. The Par-ty 27 

IV. Al-most Spring 44 

V. The Day Ba-by went to Church. ... 55 

VI. Ned’s Birth-Day 64 

VII The Park Farm 73 

VIII. Poor Puss 85 

IX. O-ney’s Pet 99 

X. Tom’s Birth-Day 108 

XI. Fourth of Ju-ly 121 

XII. The Loose Teeth 133 


( 3 ) 


4 CONTENTS. 

XIII. Ned and I-da 148 

XIV. The Next Year 158 

XV. The B are-foot Boys 171 

XVI. Ba-by Bell’s Tricks 183 

XVII. The Swing 197 

XVIII. Sto-ry of Jo-seph 207 

XIX. The New Play 219 

XX. Lit-tle Boy Blue 228 

XXI. Good By 246 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 




HERB WE ARE A-GAIN. 

How do you do, dear lit-tle 
read-ers ? So, I see, you are not 
tired with read-ing the two thick 
books I have made for you be- 
fore, but you want to hear more 
of our lit-tle friends, Rose, Tom, 
Ned, I-da, and ba-by Bell. 

But it may be that this book 




8 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


may come in-to the hands of some 
who have not seen the oth-er Rose 
Dale books. 

That these may know what our 
sto-ry is a-bout, I will say that 
Rose, Tom, Ned, and ba-by Bell 
were the chil-dren of Mr. and 
Mrs. Dale, who lived at a place 
called- Brook-side, near a large 
town. 

They had a dear Aunt Kate and 
Un-cle Will, who went off to spend 
the win-ter at the warm South, in 
the hope that Un-cle Will might 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


9 


get well there, for he had been 
sick and weak a long time. 

I-da was their dear lit-tle girl, 
who was left with her kind friends 
at Brook-side, while they were 
gone. 

Then I may have some-tiling to 
say of Mrs. Bond, and of Miss 
El-la Bond, who taught a lit-tle 
school near by, and of her sis-ters, 
Lu-cy and A-my. 

And I shall speak of Mike, who 
worked for Mr. Dale ; and of his 
wife, O-ney ; and of Ruth and 
Jane. 


10 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


But if you want to know all that 
has been told of the Brook-side 
folks, you must get the two oth-er 
books, and read them. 

We left them, at the end of the 
last book, just at the hap-py 
Christ-mas time. 

It was a hap-py time to them 
all, though they could not but 
think of the dear friends, I-da’s 
sick pa-pa, and her dear mam-ma, 
who had but just left them, to sail 
off on the sea, and were then far 
a-way. 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


11 


It was a hap-py time, I say ; for 
they all knew that the good God 
who cared for them, and loved 
them so much, would keep the 
far-off ones in His hand, and do 
for them just what was best. 

For “He makes all things to 
work for good to those who love 
Him.” 

The week af-ter Christ-mas was 
full of joy and fun to the young 
ones. 

School was not to be-gin till af- 
ter Hew Year’s Day ; so there was 
a nice time to play. 


12 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


They had all their fresh new 
toys and gifts to play with in- 
doors. And, more than that, the 
day af-ter Christ-mas there was 
a snow-storm, which made fine 
sleigh-ing once more. 

It was fine for a boy’s sled, too ; 
and Tom had nice times with his 
sled ; there was quite a slope from 
the barn down to the lot where 
hay was made in sum-mer, and 
this was just the place to slide. 

When it was not too cold, mam- 
ma let all the lit-tle ones go out 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


13 


there ; and Tom was kind with his 
sled — he let all have a turn. 

Ned and I-da could not steer 
well, for they were too small. So 
first Tom would take Ned on with 
him, and slide down the hill, and 
then Rose would take I-da on 
with her, and slide down. 

But Rose and Tom were not 
ver-y big them-selves, and once in 
a while they would run the sled 
in-to the bank, or on a stone, and 
o-ver they would go, like lit-tle 
dump-lings, in-to the snow. But 


14 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


they had such thick, warm wraps 
on that it did not hurt them, and 
they would jump up, and laugh, 
and try a-gain. 

That would be the best way to 
do, e-ven if they were hurt a lit- 
tle bit; it does no good to cry 
when one is hurt — does it? 

I know a boy, who, if he chance 
to get a splin-ter in his hand, or a 
lit-tle cut from his knife, or some 
such hurt, will cry and roar so 
that you would think he must be 
half killed. 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


15 


And I know an-oth-er boy, who, 
when he gets hurt, will come in, 
and sit down, and say, “ Mam-rna, 
please look at this.” Once his 
inam-ma was at work, and did not 
hear what he said, at first, he was 
so still ; but she looked at him, 
and saw that he was pale, and that 
he held his foot with his hand; 
and then she found that he had 
hurt his toe a good deal, and that 
it must be bound up with care. 

Which do you think you would 
like best, the boy who roars when 


16 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


he is hurt, or the boy who keeps 
still, and bears it like a man? 

Lit-tle I-da did not for-get her 
pa-pa and mam-ma. She of-ten 
took a pic-ture of them to look at, 
and would kiss it, and hug it, and 
say, “ Pa-pa and mam-ma, come 
home ! ” 

When a let-ter came from her 
mam-ma, she stood quite still to 
hear it read, and then she asked 
for the let-ter, and held it in her 
hand a long time. 

But the lit-tle girl was ver-y 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


17 


hap-py in her new home. The 
chil-dren were as kind to her as 
they could be, and I-da loved her 
aunt-y next best to her mam-ma. 

She was as fun-ny as ev-er, and 
of-ten made them all laugh, with 
her talk. 

One day she had a pic-ture book 
to look at, just as it grew dark. 
When she could not see well, she 
called out to Jane, — 

“Jane, won’t you take down a 
lamp, and make a fire in it, so I 
can see to read my book ? ” 


18. 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


Once, when slie was in the 
kitch-en, Ruth was mak-ing bread ; 
I-da stood to see her knead it, and 
she be-gan to laugh, and said, “ 0, 
see Ruth fight the bread ! ” 

Some-times Ruth gave her a bit 
of dough to work with, and she 
liked this so much that Mike made 
her a lit-tle roll-ing pin, and a 
board to roll her cakes on. Ruth 
said this would do to keep her 
bus-y, when Rose and Tom had to 
go to school. 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


19 


II. 


THE BIRTH-DAY. 

“ Pa-pa,” said Rose, “ do you 
know that my birth-day will come 
af-ter one day more ? ” 

One week of the new year had 
gone when Rose said this. Her 
birth-day was the tenth day of the 
first month of the year; do you 
know the name of that month ? 

Can you say the names of all 
the months of the year? Fun-ny 


20 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


names some of them are — are 
they not ? 

“ My lit-tle girl’s birth-day ! ” 
said pa-pa 5 “ and how old will she 
be then — five ? ” 

“ 0, no, indeed ! I am more 
than five. Why, Tom is a good 
deal more than five, pa-pa ; I shall 
be sev-en years old ! ” And Rose 
drew her-self up, as tall as she 
could, to let pa-pa see what a great 
gild she had grown to be. 

“ Sev-en years old ! Then I 
shall owe you sev-en ldss-es, and 
sev-en cents, I sup-pose ! ” 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


21 


11 1 don’t think you will owe 
them, pa-pa; but I shall like to 
have them.” 

“ Well, and how is this birth-day 
to be kept ? ” 

“0, such a nice way, pa-pa! 
Mam-ma says I may have all the 
chil-dren of our school here to tea, 
and Miss El-la says she will let 
school out at noon that day; so 
they will all have time to get 
read-y, and come ear-ly. Won’t 
we have fun ? ” 

“I hope you will, my sev-en- 


22 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


year-olcl pet ; I hope you will have 
fun, and joy, too. 

“But there is some-thing else 
that I shall want you to think of, 
my dear child.” 

“What is it, pa-pa? I w T ill try 
not to for-get, if you will tell me.” 

“ To whom is your life giv-en, 
Rose? Whom did we prom-ise 
you should love and serve all the 
days of your life ? ” 

“ God,” said the lit-tle girl. 

“Well, dear, I want you to 
think, when your birth-day comes, 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


23 


and now that it is so near, how 
God has giv-en you sev-eri hap-py 
years of your life, and thank Him 
for this. 

“Think, too, how ma-ny times 
you have for-got-ten that your life 
be-longs to Him, and have not 
loved Him, nor done His will, as 
His lit-tle child ought to do. 

“And pray God with all your 
heart, that He will help you, in 
this new year of your life, to do 
al-ways such things as please Him. 

“Do you know what I mean, 
my dar-ling? ” 


24 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


“Yes, pa-pa, I know; and I 
mean to think of this, the first 
thing, on my birth-day, be-fore I 
go to play.” 

“That is right. And now, let 
me see! In the morn-ing, when I 
go to town, you must tie a string 
on my fin-ger, so I shall not for- 
get to bring home some things 
which I am sore mane ma will 
want, to help make a feast for so 
ma-ny young ones. 

“ And, if I could coax Mrs. 
White to let me put her lit-tle Lou 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


25 


in my coat pock-et, and bring her 
home on the birth-day, to help 
your par-ty, I sup-pose you would 
be glad to see her.” 

“ 0, pa-pa, you could not put 
Lou in your pock-et ; she is as big 
as I am. But will you bring her 
home with you? 0, that will be 
so nice! But I hope you will 
come at noon.” 

“Yes, if Lou can come, I will 
come home at noon ; but you will 
not wrnnt to see me so soon, if I 
can-not get Lou to come, hey ? ” 


26 


FIVE HA PPY CHILDREN. 


u 0, yes, in-deed, you best pa-pa 
in all the world ! Will you come 
home in time for my par-ty?” 

u I will try to, Miss Rose, since 
you have asked me,” said pa-pa, 
with a bow, which made Rose 
laugh. 

Then she ran to tell Tom what 
pa-pa had said ; and I-da, too ; for 
I-da knew Lou White; she lived 
next door to her in town. 

The next day seemed long to 
Rose ; but it went by, and so did 
the night, and the birth-day came 
at last. 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


27 


III. 

THE PAR-TY.- 

It was a fine day, — not so cold 
as it had been, — and the sun 
shone on the snow, and made all 
look gay. It was just the day for 
a lit-tle girl’s birth-day — one that 
came in the win-ter. 

Rose and Tom went to school, 
and tried to be as good as they 
could be. “We ought to,” said 
Rose, “ for Miss El-la is so kind to 
let us out at noon.” 


28 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


A-my Bond gave Rose a good 
hug, when she came in. “You 
dear Rose,” said she, “ I hope you 
will have the best birth-day that 
ev-er was ! IsnH it nice that we 
are all to go to your house ? ” 

They did not have a re-cess that 
morn-ing, but they all worked 
just like a hive of bees, to do all 
their les-sons be-fore noon. And 
they did ’ most all of them. 

“ Now be sure to come as soon 
as two o’clock,” said Rose to all 
the rest, as they put on their 
things. 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


29 


Rose and Tom ran home in 
great haste, to see if Lou White 
had come. 

Yes, she saw them from the 
win-dow, and ran to meet them. 

“ 0, Rose ! ” “ 0, Lou ! I am 

so glad your mam-ma let you 
come ! ” 

“So am I; and I am to stay 
all night. Won’t we have lots of 
fun?” 

“And, Rose, I have seen your 
ba-by sis-ter, and your mam-ma 
let me hold her. Isn’t she sweet ? 


30 


FIVE H A PPY CHILDREN. 


And you have got I-da here, too, 
the lit-tle dar-ling ! I should 
think you would be so hap-py! 

“And 0, Rose, I for-got! 
Mam-ma sent you a lit-tle birth- 
day gift.” 

Lou had to stop to take breath, 
she had talked so fast. 

She ran to get the gift for Rose. 
It was a dear lit-tle al-bum, that 
would hold just twen-ty pic-tures, 
and it had a re-al good pic-ture of 
Lou in it, to be-gin with, and one 
of I-da. 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


31 


“ 0,” how nice ! ” cried Rose. 
“ How kind your mam-ma is ! 
But where did she get the pic-ture 
of I-da? It is just like the one 
we have, in mam-ma’s big al-bum.” 

“The man kept one, in a case, 
at his rooms ; and mam-ma saw it 
there, and got him to print one to 
put in your book. But you have 
not seen all ! ” 

“ Why ! ” said Rose ; and she 
turned o-ver the leaves, and, to be 
sure, there was one on the first 
page. It was a pic-ture of Dr. 


32 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


Grey, the good min-is-ter of the 
church to which Lou went, as well 
as Rose. 

“ 0, 0, there is Dr. Grey ! How 
good he looks ! just as he does in 
church ! 0, I must run and show 

mam-ma; she has not got a-ny 
pic-ture of him in her book.” 

Rose was so pleased with her 
al-bum, that she had to be called 
twice to din-ner. 

“ Come, Rose,” said pa-pa, “ you 
will not be read-y, now, in time 
for your lit-tle friends, if you do 
not come now.” 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


33 


When din-ner was done, they 
all had to be washed and dressed, 
clean and nice, for the par-ty. 

All but Lou; she came all in 
good trim, and looked as sweet as 
a pink. 

Ba-by Bell, too, had on a nice, 
clean slip, so that she might go 
down to the par-ty, for Rose was 
sure they would all want to see 
her. 

Lu-cy and A-my had been to 
see her, twice ; but Nell Ray and 
Fred had not seen her at all. 


34 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


A-bout as soon as all were 
dressed, the door-bell rang, and in 
came Nell and Fred. Then came 
John Wilde, and liis sis-ter Bess. 
Their name was Wilde, but they 
w T ere not wild. 0, no ! they were 
dear good chil-dren. 

Then came Fan-ny Smith and 
lit-tle Ben. Ben did not go to 
school; he was near the age of 
Ned, and a nice mate for him. 
And then Nat Hale came in. He 
felt shy at first, but he soon got 
o-ver it. 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


35 


In fact, they were all shy at 
first, and sat round the room, 
as if they did not dare to run 
and play. 

But then mam-ma came down 
with the ba-by, and all came round 
to see her. And then Rose ran to 
get her al-bum, to show to the 
.girls and boys. 

And by that time pa-pa came 
in, and it did not take him long to 
stir them up, I can tell you; he 
was so fun-ny ! 

When he had made them all 


36 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


laugh so they could but just stand, 
he left them to play, and it was 
not hard then to get up a good 
game. 

Tom’s rock-ing horse had been 
brought down in-to the par-lor, 
and little Ben Smith asked to ride. 
Some one had to help him on, but 
then he rode with all his might, so 
that his curls flew all a-bout his 
head. 

Wed had nev-er been on the 
horse to ride. He thought he 
should fall. But when he saw 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


37 


Ben hold on so well, who was but 
a month old-er than he, he be-gan 
to think he could do it, too. 

His mam-ma helped him on, to 
try, when Ben had rode as long as 
he want-ed to, and Ned liked his 
ride so well, that from that time 
he rode two or three times a day, 
and found it fine sport. 

All the dolls were down in the 
par-lor, of course, I-da’s new doll 
with the rest ; and the lit-tle girls 
of the par-ty had a great time 
with them. 


38 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


When it was five o’clock, they 
were called out to tea. 

How bright all the eyes were at 
sight of the pret-ty ta-ble ! for 
Mrs. Dale had set it out with nice 
Chi-na and glass, to please the 
young folks. 

There were no rich cakes, or 
tarts, or such things, that would 
be sure to hurt them ; but a nice 
feast of fruit, light cakes, sweet 
bunns, and oth-er good things, 
which they might eat witli-out 
harm. 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


39 


The chil-dren were ver-y hap-py 
at their feast, for none of them 
were rude, and e-ven the lit-tle 
three-year-old tots seemed to think 
they must act like grown-up folks, 
at a birth-day par-ty. 

When the feast was done, and 
all had had as much as they 
want-ed, they went back to the 
par-lor, to have one or two more 
games. 

Rose had wound up her box, to 
make it play sweet tunes, and the 
chil-dren all liked to hear it so 


40 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


much that she took it out, and let 
it play while they were at tea. 

But now they let it stop, for 
Mrs. Dale said she would play for 
them. 

They were to play a game 
which is a kind of Hide and Seek. 

This is the way to play it. All 
go out of the room who are to 
seek for the thing which is hid — 
say three or four. Then the rest 
hide it in some place, and one at 
the pi-a-no be-gins to play. 

Then those who are to seek 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


41 


come in, and be-gin their hunt. 
If they come near the place where 
the thing is hid, the mu-sic sounds 
loud, and the near-er they get to 
it, the loud-er it is. But if they 
go otf from the right place, the 
mu-sic grows soft and faint, till, 
when they are far from the spot, 
you can but just hear it. 

The young folks all liked this 
game. They took the lit-tle black 
doll that Tom gave to Rose, to 
hide, and when they found it, they 
would shout, “ I spy Top-sy ! ” 


42 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN^ 


When Top-sy had been sought 
and found a good ma-ny times, 
they let her rest. Then Mrs. 
Dale said, “Who will come and 
sing ? ” 

They sang “Three Lit-tle Kit- 
tens,” and “ Old Dog Tray,” and 
some otli-er songs. 

Then they sang two or three 
sweet hymns, that they all knew. 

And by that time it was time to 
go home. The Smiths’ sleigh came 
for them, and they took Kat Hale. 
Mike got up his team to take the 
rest. 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


43 


All but Lou. Of course she 
was to stay all night. Rose slept 
with her, in a spare room. And 
so end-ed her birth-day. 


44 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


IV. 

AL-MOST SPRING. 

Of the next two months I have 
not much to tell, for it was a qui-et 
time at Brook-side. 

Rose and Tom did not miss a 
day at school. They were both 
well, and when the road was bad 
for them to walk, Mike took them 
in the sleigh, or in the bug-gy. 

Two or three times, Wed and 
I-da went with them to school. 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


45 


They liked to go, and Miss El-la 
and the chil-dren liked to see them 
come. 

But Mrs. Dale did not let them 
go of-ten, for fear they would put 
out the or-der of the School. For 
you know, 

u It makes the chil-dren laugh and play, 

To see such pets at school.” 

That is not just as the song has 
it, but it is as true of a pet with 
two feet, as it is of a lamb. 

I-da’s chief joy at home was 
ba-by Bell. She grew fast, and 


46 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


was as good as could be. I-da 
liked to make her smile, and to 
see her in her bath, and to bring 
her socks, and her slip, and her 
lit-tle brush, when she was be-ing 
dressed. 

When ba-by went to sleep, I-da 
would of-ten bring one of her 
dolls, and lay it in the cra-dle by 
her. 

Good news came from the South, 
— the Land of Flow-ers, as they 
call it, — where I-da’s pa-pa and 
mam-ma were. Her pa-pa be-gan 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


47 


to grow bet-ter as soon as he was 
there, and he was so much bet-ter 



that they had good hope that he 
would come home in the spring 
quite strong and well. 

“Mam-ma,” said lit-tle Ned, one 
day, “ I wish I could have a birth- 
day, as Rose did.” 


48 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


“ Why, my dear, you do have a 
birth-day each year ; you have had 
three birth-days, and by and by 
you will have one a-gain.” 

“ Shall I have a birth-day this 
year, mam-ma? ” asked Tom. 

“ Yes, most sure-ly you will, if 
you live to see it, my boy.” 

“ 0, how soon will it be ? ” 

“ In June, when the ro-ses are 
out, and the straw-ber-ries are 
ripe. Is not that a nice time for a 
birth-day ? ” 

“Yes, ma’am; and then I shall 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


49 


be six ; why, I shall be ’most as 
old as Rose ! and I am ’most as 
big now’ see, mam-mat” 

“ When shall I have my birth- 
day ? ” asked Wed. 

u In one month more, dear ; 
yours comes in A-pril.” 

“ 0,” said Tom, “ how I do wish 
this black mud would go, and let 
the green grass come a-gain. I 
wish sum-mer would come.” 

“ You must wait, my dear boy, 
and bear with the black mud a 

wdiile. You have had a good deal 

• ^ 


50 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


of fun with the snow — have yon 
not?.” 

“ 0, yes, I like the snow, when 
it is so that my sled will go on it ; 
but I don’t like the dir-ty stuff it 
is now.” 

“ But the snow can-not go all at 
once ; it must melt, to make way 
for the grass; and as it melts, 
there must be mud. 

“If you like the snow in the 
cold days, you should not be vexed 
with it when it goes off in the best 
way it can.” 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


51 


“ Well, I shall be glad when we 
can play out-doors a-gain.” 

“ Yes, we will all be glad when 
the sweet spring time comes. 
And look, Tom ; these few warm 
days have made the grass look 
green on that sun-ny bank; do 
you see ? Soon the mud will dry 
off, and all will be green once 
more.” 

Tom found one nice thing to do, 
while the mud staid. 

It was not too cold now for him 
to play in the barn, or in the shed. 


52 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


The clays grew long-er, too ; so 
he had some hours, when school 
was out, be-fore dark. 

So Mike made him a work- 
bench, in one cor-ner of the large 
barn, — a low bench, at which he 
could stand to work with his tools, 
as he had seen Mr. Betts, the 
join-er, do. 

Here he had his box of tools, 
which was one of his Christ-mas 
gifts ; and when Mike had time, he 
would show him how to use them. 

Tom found it fine fun to try to 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


53 


make things with his tools. He 
made a boat, with a mast; and 
then he got Rose to take her work- 
box and hem a sail for it. Then 
they had leave to float it in a tub. 

Then Ned want-ed a boat, too ; 
and Tom made him one, just as 
nice as his own. 

Next, he made a doll’s chair for 
Rose, and one for I-da, Odd 
look-ing chairs they were, to be 
sure; but the lit-tle girls were 
quite proud of them, as Tom had 
made them him-self. 


54 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


Mam-ma got a nice bit of green 
chintz from her piece chest, and 
made the chairs look quite fine. 
They were strong — Tom was sure 
of that, for he put whole rows of 
nails in each of them. 

So, with all these dear lit-tle 
chil-dren had to make them hap- 
py, at school and at home, at work 
and at play, they had no need to 
mind the wind, and rain, and mud. 
They might well wait till the good 
God should send the spring. 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


55 


V. 

THE DAY BA-BY WENT TO CHURCH. 

I have told you, in the otli-er 
books, that the Dales had no 
church near them, and they had to 
go in-to the town, two or three 
miles, to church. 

When Aunt Kate was at home, 
they went to her house to stay at 
noon, so they could go a-gain to 
church in the af-ter-noon. 

But now her house was shut up. 


56 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


They all missed kind Aunt Kate 
and Un-cle Will, ver-y much ; but 
more than all on Sun-days. 

Rose said it did not seem like 
go-ing to church, now they could 
not go to Aunt Kate’s at noon. 

But her pa-pa said, “ I hope, my 
dar-ling, you will soon learn to 
feel that the church is our Fath- 
er’s house, and that you will love 
to go there, bet-ter than to the 
house of a-ny friend on earth. 

“ Good King Da-vid used to say, 
‘ I was glad when they said un-to 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


57 


me, Let us go to the house of the 
Lord.’ And we must try to feel 
so too.” 

Some-times they went to Mrs. 
White’s to stay at noon, and some- 
times they staid in the Sun-day 
school room, to eat a lunch, and 
then walked out a lit-tle. Some- 
times they came home at noon. 

The chil-dren were sor-ry not to 
go to church twice ; but it was a 
long time to wait, and on these 
daj^s pa-pa thought it best to come 
home. 


58 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


The day ba-by Bell went to 
church, they did so. 

This good pa-pa and mam-ma 
had been wait-ing for a day when 
it was not too cold to take ba-by 
in-to town; for they wished to 
take their dear lit-tle child to 
church, to give her to God, and 
pray Him to make her His own. 
dear child. 

At last there came a bright 
Sun-day, when the wind did not 
blow hard, and the roads were not 
too bad. 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


59 


Then pa-pa said, “Now, mam- 
ma, we can take ba-by to-day, I 
think.” 

And ba-by ’s mam-ma was glad, 
and she be-gan at once to get 
read-y. 

All the lit-tle ones went, for 
they did not wish to miss see-ing 
the dear ba-by bap-tized. 

I-da and Ned did not laugh, but 
sat still in their seats. 

Dear lit-tle Bell was still, too; 
she did not cry at all, but once she 
said, 11 Ah-goo ! ” in her soft, hap- 
py way. 


60 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


When Dr. Grey called her name, 
Is-a-bel, a-loud, Rose and Tom 
looked at each oth-er, with a glad 
look. They liked to hear the dear 
ba-by’s name called in church. 

Ba-by was ta-ken round to Mrs. 
White’s house, un-til church was 
out, and then they all came home. 

Rose said, “ I wish I might stay 
with Lou, and go to church this 
af-ter-noon.” 

And Mrs. White said, u Can you 
not let her stay ? ” 

But mam-ma said, “I do not 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


61 


think it best, my love. Mrs. 
White is ver-y kind, and some 
otli-er time you shall come and 
see Lou ; but we want you to go 
home with us to-day.” 

I know -why Mrs. Dale did not 
want Rose to stay at Mrs. White’s 
all the rest of Sun-day. But Rose 
did not know, and in her heart she 
thought her mam-ma might let her 
stay, when it was to go to church 
a-gain. 

Did she pout her lips, and look 
vexed ? 


62 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


At first she felt like it, but then 
she came to a bet-ter mind, and 
felt that pa-pa and mam-ma must 
know best, though she did not see 
why they did not let her stay. 

“Well,” said pa-pa, as they 
drove home, “ some day I hope we 
shall have a church near us, and 
then we need not fail to go twice 
a day.” 

u 0, pa-pa, do you think we 
shall have a re-al church of our 
own ? ” 

“I hope so, dear; some of us 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


63 


mean to try for it ; and we mean 
to ‘ Try, try a-gain,’ un-til we see 
it built.” 

“I hope,” said mam-ma, “that 
the next time ba-by Bell goes to 
church, it will be to a church at 
Brook-side.” 


64 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


VI. • 

NED’S BIRTH-DAY. 

The days went on, and each one 
was a wee bit long-er than the 
last. The mud was all gone, and 
the grass was now quite a bright 
green, and was grow-ing fast. 

Soon the birds be-gan to sing, 
with all their might, as if to say, 
u We are come; do you hear us? 
The spring time has come, and we 
are glad.” 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


G5 


So were the lit-tle chil-dren glad. 
0, what joy it was to play out of 
doors all the time, for so Ned and 
I-da did, and to see Mike dig and 
plant the gar-den. 

Mike was full of work now, but, 
bus-y as he was, he could al-ways 
talk to the lit-tle ones, and they 
had a great deal to say to him, 
and a great ma-ny things to ask 
a-bout. 

One day Rose came fly-ing in-to 
the house, and said, “ 0, mam-ma, 
did you know that the cab Ned 


66 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


used to have, when he was a ba- 
by, is up in the loft ? ” 

“Why, yes, I knew it; where 
did you think it was ? ” 

“Why, I for-got all a-bout it; 
and it was up a-mong such a lot 
of things, that I have not seen it 
when I have been up there be-fore. 

“But now, mam-ma, can’t we 
have it down, and draw ba-by out 
in the yard ? ” 

“ Yes, we will get it down, dear, 
and have it put in or-der ; it wants 
some mend-ing. But do you think 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


67 


I can trust you to draw ba-by out ? 
I do not think you are quite old 
e-nough for that.” 

“0, I wish you would try me 
just once, mam-ma ; I would take 
such care of her ! And, you 
know, Tom could draw the cab, 
and I could hold on by the side of 
it, to see that it did not tip.” 

u It is made so that it can-not 
tip, if you draw it with care. 
Well, then, you may ask Mike to 
get it down, and we will see what 
it needs to make it all right.” 


68 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


Four young ones ran to find 
Mike, and, with such a troop af-ter 
him, he had to go at once. 

Down came the cab, and the 
chil-dren all took a look at it, to 
see what was to be mend-ed. 

u I see,” said Mike ; “ it wants a 
screw here ; but I will set it right, 
as quick as a cat can lick her ear” 
In fact, it did not take him 
much more time than that ; and ' 
then he put I-da in it, and Tom 
and Ned drew it to the house, 
with Rose to push. 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


69 


“ Here it is, mam-ma ; now 
please put on Bell’s hood and 
cloak, and let us try her.” 

Mam-ma came out to look at 
the cab, and to dust it, and put a 
pil-low in it, and then she put ou 
ba-by’s things, and tied her in the 
cab, and let the young team draw 
her up and down the broad walk 
in front of the house. 

It made the chil-dren half wild 
with joy to get the ba-by out with 
them. Tom and Rose drew the 
cab with great care, and Ned and 


70 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


I-da went, with a skip and a hop, 
round and round it, and cried, 
u Isn't it nice to come out doors, 
ba-bj ? ” 

When mam-ma thought she had 
been out as long as she ought, she 
came to get her. 

“ May we take her a-gain, some 
time, mam-ma ? ” asked Rose. 

“ Yes, you have ta-ken nice care 
of her. Why, this has been such 
a treat to you all, that we ought to 
have kept it to hon-or Red’s birth- 
day with.” 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


71 


“0, that is to-mor-row,” cried 
Rose. “ I am so glad there is no 
school ! What can we do to keep 
it, mam-ma ? ” 

“We will try to think of some 
nice thing to do, to make the lit- 
tle boy hap-py,” said mam-ma. 

Mike was by, and heard this. 
He had come round to train up 
some vines. 

When the chil-dren were off at 
some-thing else, he came to speak 
to Mrs. Dale. 

“I was think-ing, ma’am,” said 


72 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


he ; “ Mr. Dale wants me to drive 
o-ver to the Park Farm some day 
soon, and if I could make out to 
go to-mor-row, would you let the 
chil-der go, too? There’s ma-tiy 
things would please them at the 
farm, — a young calf or two, and 
such like ; and that would be a 
way to keep the birth-day,” said 
Mike, with a smile. 

Mam-ma thought it was a nice 
plan, but told Mike not to speak 
of it to the young folks till they 
could see if it were a fit day to 
take them. 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


73 


VII. 

THE PARK FARM. 

The next day proved a fine, 
warm day. It was the last day 
of the week, and so there was no 
school ; and the last day of A-pril ; 
so it was Ned’s birth-day, and he 
was four years old. 

When the chil-dren heard of 
Mike’s plan, they were in great 
glee, you may be sure. 

They set off for the farm by 


74 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


nine. It was three miles off, and 
a fine drive. 

Mrs. Park, at the farm, was fond 
of chil-dren, and was glad to see 
the load that Mike had in his 
wag-on. 

She came out to help lift them 
down. “ One, two, three, four,” 
she said ; “ you dear lit-tle chicks, 
come in here. 

“ You will find Mr. Park in the 
field next the red barn,” said she 
to Mike ; “ you leave the chil-dren 
with me while you go and find 
him. 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


75 


“ Now you just come in and wait 
a bit, till I bring my but-ter; it 
has al-most come ; then I will put 
on my bon-net, and go and show 
you the lit-tle calves.” 

So Rose, and Tom, and Ned, and 
I-da stood round the churn, to see 
the but-ter come. This was new 
to them. Ruth could not make 
much but-ter, for the young folks 
had so much of old Suke’s milk to 
drink, that there was not much to 
raise cream. And Ruth did not 
use a churn, but w T hen she had a 


76 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


lit-tle cream, she used to stir it in 
a jar, with a spad, and make a 
fresh pat of but-ter for tea. 

Mrs. Park churned a-way a 
short time, and then she said, 
“Now it be-gins to come.” 

“Where?” said Ned; and he 
looked round the room. “ I don’t 
see it.” 

How Mrs. Park did laugh ! 
“ Did you think to see it roll a-long 
the floor, like a big snow-ball ? ” 
said she. “ Look in here.” 

She took off the cov-er, and let 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


77 


them look in to see the lumps of 
yel-low but-ter float a-bout in the 
milk. 

When they all had a peep at it, 
on went the cov-er, and round 
went the crank a few times more. 

Then it was done, and Mrs. Park 
got a big bowl and a spad, both 
of white wood, and some salt, and 
the chil-dren saw her work the 
but-ter in-to a great lump, and 
then she set it a-way in a cool 
place. 

“ Is it done ? ” asked Rose. 


78 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


“I shall work it more by and 
by,” said Mrs. Park; “but now I 
will go with you. Come.” 

She took I-da and Ned by the 
hand, and Rose and Tom went 
with them. 

They went first to see the calves. 
There were three of them in one 
place : such fun-ny fel-lows ! One 
was on the ground, as grave and 
qui-et as an old ox ; but the oth-er 
two had a look as if they meant 
to say, “ Do you want some fun ? 
Come on, then.” 



THK Til REF. CALVES. P*ge 7 




















-* 


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FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


79 


But the ehil-dren did not care 
to go too near ; they liked to look 
at them o-ver the fence. 

Then Mrs. Park showed them a 
lit-ter of lit-tle pigs, all white but 
one ; that had black spots. 

“ 0, what dear lit-tle things ! ” 
said Tom. u I did not know a pig 
could be so nice.” 

Then they went to see the ducks 
on a small pond near the yard ; 
and there was one brood of young 
chicks to be seen, and so much 
be-side, that Mike had got through 


80 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


his talk with farm-er Park, and 
come back, be-fore they had seen 
half. 

“Now you must come in and 
get a bit of cake be-fore you go ; 
come, Ry-an ; they will need 
some-thing to eat, I am sure.” 

So Mrs. Park gave each of the 
chil-dren, and Mike, some nice 
cake and a drink of milk; but 
Mike had a glass of light beer. 

Then they all gave Mrs. Park a 
kiss, for good by — all the chil- 
dren, I mean. 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


81 


Then they had a nice drive 
home, and ran to tell mam-ma 
how kind Mrs. Park was to 
them. 

After din-ner, Tom said, “ Wed, 
let us take our farm-yard, and set 
out all the things, and the beasts 
from the Wo-ah’s Ark, too, and 
make a great farm, like the Park 
Farm ! ” 

So they did, and Wed liked the 
play so much, that Tom went to 
his mam-ma, and said, — 

“Please hold your ear down, 


6 


82 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


mam-ma, so I can speak low; I 
want to ask you some-tiling.” 

“May I give my farm-yard to 
Ned, for his own, for a birth-day 
gift ? ” 

“ Yes, dar-ling, if you wish to ; 
of course you may.” 

So Tom ran back, and said, 
“Ned, I will give you my farm- 
yard for yours, be-eause this is 
your birth-day ; and you can set it 
out with the No-ah’s Ark things, 
just when you want to.” 

Ned was much pleased with this 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


83 


gift, for Tom had kept it with such 
care that it was al-most as good 
as new. 

Rose said, “ I wish I had a gift 
for Ned, mam-ma; what can I 
give him ? ” 

u I do not know, dear ; if you 
can-not think of a-ny thing else, 
you can give him a great deal of 
love.” 

“ 0, I give him that all the time, 
mam-ma; but may I choose one 
of my books to give him for his 
own ? ” 


84 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


“Yes, if you wish to.” 

So Rose ran to look o-ver her 
books. She thought a great deal 
of her books, and did not like to 
lose or part with them. But now 
she want-ed to choose a nice one 
that Red would like, for his gift. 

She found one with bright pic- 
tures, which he al-ways liked to 
look at, and gave it to him, with 
a kiss. 

Lit-tle Red thought a birth-day 
was a ver-y nice thing to come 
once a year. 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


85 


VIII. 

POOR PUSS. 

Wet and Snow had grown now 
to be good-sized cats. They were 
still full of life and fun, and were 
too much for old Puss, who took 
to the barn, for the most part, and 
caught rats there. 

I-da had left her kit-ty in town. 
Lou White said she would take 
good care of it. I-da waut-ed to 
bring Spot with her to Brook-side, 


86 FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 

but her mam-ma told her Spot 
would fight with the oth-er kit- 
tens, as like as not, when she had 
been gone so long. 

One day Snow was sick. She 
lay round, quite still, and would 
not eat, though Ruth tried to coax 
her with nice bits and sweet milk. 

The chil-dren all felt sad to see 
her so sick. Row and then she 
would act as if in pain. 

“Mam-ma,” said Red, “won’t 
you have the doc-tor come to see 
my poor kit-ty ? Poor Snow is so 
sick ! ” 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


87 


“ I do not think a doc-tor could 
do more for her than Ruth can, 
my dear ; Ruth will take good 
care of poor kit-ty.” 

“ Ruth has made her a soft bed 
out in the wood-shed, and she lies 
on it, and will not get up at all.” 

“ I fear,” said mam-ma, u she 
has got hold of some bad stuff 
that has been put out to kill rats, 
and that has made her sick.” 

“ Poor kit-ty ! ” said all the chil- 
dren ; u what did she eat the bad 
stuff for ? ” 


88 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


The next morn-ing, when Ruth 
and Jane came down stairs, they 
went to see poor Snow. 

“ She is dy-ing,” said Jane ; “ I 
wish we could take her a-way be- 
fore the chil-dren come down.” 

“We can-not move the poor 
thing now,” said Ruth ; “ let her 
die in peace. May be the chil- 
dren will not think of her for a 
while.” 

But they did. As soon as they 
were dressed, down they all came 
to ask how kit-ty was. 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


89 


They went out to see her. 
“ Come, kit-ty,” said I-da, who did 
not know what it all meant, — 
“come, kitty, get up and race 
with me ! see how nice it is out 
doors ! ” 

“She can-not hear you,” said 
Ruth ; “ poor kit-ty is so sick.” 

“ 0, poor kit-ty ! ” cried I-da. 
She took up the pan of milk which 
had been set out for the cats, and 
put it close by her. 

Ned ran and got a wood-en ball, 
with which he had played with 


90 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


Snow when she was well, and laid 
it be-fore her eyes. 

But poor kit-ty’s eyes were dim, 
and she did not care a-ny more for 
milk or balls. 

She gave one or two more 
gasps, and poor kit-ty was dead. 

When Ruth said so, the chil- 
dren all be-gan to cry. Mam-ma 
came down to see where they all 
were, and it al-most made her cry 
to see the sad lit-tle group. 

u Poor lit-tle Snow ! ” said mam- 
ma ; “ she cau-not play with you 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


91 


a-ny more ! But she was a hap- 
py kit-ty while she lived : are you 
not glad that you were kind to 
her, and did not hurt or tease 
her ? ” 

The lit-tle ones wiped their eyes 
at this, and said, “ Yes.” Mam-ma 
knew how to corn-fort them. 

“ Come, now, my dar-lings ; pa- 
pa is wait-ing for us. Come and 
tell him a-bout poor kit-ty.” 

Soon the four lit-tle ones were 
round pa-pa’s knee, to tell him of 
the death of poor Snow. 


92 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


Pa-pa said he was ver-y sor-ry. 
“ You must ask Mike to dig a 
grave for poor kit-ty,” said he, 
“ and we will put up a head-stone, 
to mark the place.” 

“ Where shall we get a nice 
stone, pa-pa ? ” said Rose. 

“ A smooth board, which we 
can paint white, will do, and we 
will paint the let-ters in black. 
You write out what you want 
me to paint on the board, and 
I will do it when I come home 
to tea.” 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


93 


Right af-ter break-fast, the chil- 
dren went for Mike, to ask him to 
dig poor Snow’s grave. He did 
not make fun of the plan, but set 
a-bout it at once, for he saw how 
bad the lit-tle ones felt. 

Rose and Tom sat down, with a 
slate, be-fore pa-pa came home, to 
think what they would have paint- 
ed on the head-stone. 

Rose could not write well yet, 
but she could print the words on 
her slate. 

u They thought and talked some 


94 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


time, and this is what they wrote 
at last: — 

u Poor Snow Lies Here. 

She 'was Ned Pale’s own Kit-ty , 
And we all loved her? 

Pa-pa said this would do ver-y 
well. He had some paint in the 
barn, — a pot of white paint, and 
some black paint, with a brush, 
that was meant for mak-ing let- 
ters. 

So the words that were on the 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


95 


slate were paiut-ed on the white 
board, and when it was dry, pa-pa 
fixed it in the ground, at the head 
of poor Snow’s grave. 

“ Mam-ma,” said Tom, that 
e-ven-ing, “I think Net, my kit- 
ty, has a hard heart.” 

“ Why, my dear ? Has she put 
her claws in-to you ? ” 

“Why, no, mam-ma! But we 
took her to see Snow’s grave, and 
she did not care a bit ; she just ran 
all o-ver it, and round it, as if she 
was glad. 


96 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


“ And now she is just as full of 
fun as if Snow was not dead, and 



laps her milk just the same as if 
Snow was at the oth-er side of the 
pan, as she used to be. 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


97 


“My dear boy, you must not 
have such hard thoughts of your 
poor kit-ty; she can-not know 
that Snow is dead, and it is not in 
her na-ture to care that she is 
gone; kit-ty has no soul, and no 
mind to think of such things, and 
to love, as you do.” 

Tom smiled, but he could not 
help feel-ing that he should like 
Net bet-ter if she did care just a 
lit-tle bit. 

“Now,” said Tom to Rose and 
Ned, “we must own Net all to- 


98 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


geth-er, for she is all the kit-ty we 
have left.” 

“And when you come to my 
house,” said I-da, “we will own 
Spot all to-ged-der ! ” 

For which she got a kiss from 
each one. 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


99 


IX. 

O-NEY’S PET. 

The gar-den was all made now, 
the seeds all sown, and a good 
ma-ny bright green shoots were 
up a-bove ground. The peas, 
which were Mike’s pride, were a 
foot high, or more. 

Rose, and Tom, and Ned, and 
I-da loved to watch the gar-den 
beds ; they had seen Mike plant 
the seeds, and they liked to see 
them come up. 


100 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


“ I don’t see” said Tom, one day, 
<£ how that plant can come out of 
one of those mites of seeds that 
you put in this bed ! ” 

“Ah, sure none of us can see 
that,” said Mike ; “ it is the Lord’s 
work ; no one else can tell how it 
is done.” 

One day, the chil-dren all stood 
to watch a hill of ants, at their 
work. It was fun to see how one 
of them would lug off a bit that 
was near-ly as large as liim-self. 

One lit-tle ant was killed in some 
way, and lay dead in the path. 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 101 


Soon an-oth-er ant came near, 
and saw him. At once he took up 
the dead ant, to car-ry it off. It 
was slow work for him ; once or 
twice he had to put it down, and 
then try a-gain. 

Rose and Tom were called in to 
go to school be-fore they saw what 
he would do with it. They told 
their mam-ma a-bout the dead ant. 
“The ants care for each oth-er 
more than cats do — don’t they, 
mam-ma ? ” 

“ Yes, my dear ; they are made 


102 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


to live in tribes, — a great ma-ny 
in one place 5 and so they are 
taught to care for and help each 
oth-er by the good God who made 
them.” 

One day when the chil-dren 
came home from school, Mike said 
to them, “You must ask your 
mam-ma to let you go down and 
see O-ney; she has got a new 
pet.” 

“Has she? What is it, Mike? 
Is it a lamb ? ” 

“ A lamb ! no, bless you ; I wish 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


103 


I could get hold of a lamb for you, 
you think so much of it. But 
O-ney’s pet is a lit-tle dog.” 

“ A dog ! 0, dear ! what did 

she want of an-oth-er dog ? Is it 
like Fox ? ” 

“ Not at all at all,” said Mike. 
“You see if you don’t like this 
one your own self.” 

I must tell you that Mike gave 
Fox a-way some time be-fore this. 
He did not prove to be a ver-y 
nice dog, and O-ney did not like 
him in the house ; he would snap 
at the chil-dren, for one thing. 


104 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


Rose got leave for them all to 
go down to Mike’s house, and see 
the new pet. 

They did all like this dog, to be 
sure. It had long, white hair, — 
or wool, you might call it, — and 
bright lit-tle eyes, and it was as 
full of play as a kit-ten. 

A friend of O-ney’s had giv-en it 
to her. More than all, it had been 
used to play with cliil-dren, and 
was glad to see them come, and 
felt just in the mood for a romp 
with them. 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


105 


I-da was so pleased with this lit- 
tle dog ! She thought it was bet- 
ter than Spot e-ven, or a-ny otli-er 
pet. 

“ What is dog-gy’s name ? ” said 
Rose. 

“ I mean to call him Shag,” said 
O-ney ; “ do you think it is a good 
name for him % ” 

“Yes,” said Rose; “for he has 
such a shag-gy coat ! ” 

Each day, af-ter this, lit-tle I-da 
would beg her aunt-y to let her go 
down to O-ney’s house, “to see 
lit-tle dog Shag.” 


106 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


And when she got there, she 
would sit down on the floor, as 
you see her in the pic-ture in the 
front of this book, and hold Shag, 
and hug him till he was glad to be 
let off. 

O-ney loved I-da ver-y much, 
she was such a dear lit-tle girl; 
and she told Rose, in her ear, that 
if Mrs. Wells would let I-da take 
Shag, when she came home, she 
meant to give him to her. u But 
do not you speak of it,” said she ; 
u for she may not like a dog a-bout 
the house.” 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


107 


“ Why did not I-da’s pa-pa and 
mam-ma come home,” you will 
ask, “ now that the spring was 
come ? ” 

Poor Un-cle Will had had a turn 
of not be-ing so well, just be-fore 
the time that he thought to come 
home. 

And so it was thought best for 
him to stay an-oth-er month where 
he was. 

But he was to come in June, 
and June was now quite near. 


108 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


X. 

TOM’S BIRTH-DAY. 

June came, and the rose trees 
all put out their buds, to tell that 
the queen of months was come. 

Miss El-la’s school was out now, 
for the sum-mer ; she meant to 
keep till the last of June ; but she 
was not well, and her friends said 
she must stop, and not teach a-ny 
more till fall. 

Rose and Tom read to their 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN'. 


109 


mam-ma for a short time each 
day, as they used to do be-fore 
they went to school ; but the rest 
of the time they had leave to be 
out of doors as much as they 
chose, and a hap-py time they had 
in those bright, sweet days ! 

Tom’s birth-day was the six- 
teenth day of June. 

The straw-ber-ries were quite 
ripe, some of them, three or four 
days be-fore, in the great bed of 
which Mike took such care. 

Rose, and Tom, and Ned, and 


110 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


I-da all had a taste of them ; but 
Mike did not let them have but 
one or two, now and then ; for, as 



he told them, he was to save them 
for Tom’s birth-day. 

Not on-ly for Tom’s sake; he 
could not eat so ma-ny as there 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


Ill 


were on the bed ; nor could all the 
young ones. 

But there was hope of a great 
joy on that day. Pa-pa and 
iham-ma did not tell the chil-dren, 
for fear it might not come, and it 
would be hard for them then, if 
they knew of it. 

But Mike knew, for he was to 
keep the ber-ries ; and Jane knew, 
for she was at work in the best 
spare room, more or less, for a day 
or two be-fore; and Ruth knew, 
for 0, dear me ! how hot her ov-en 


112 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


was, and what nice things she 
drew out of it ! 

Rose said, with a smile, “ I 
guess, mam-ma, you love Tom best 
of all of us ; there is such a time 
in the house be-fore his birth- 
day ! ” 

Rose was just in fun, for she 
knew quite well that mam-ma 
loved all her dear ones a-like. 
But I think Rose her-self loved 
Tom just a lit-tle more than she 
did a-ny one else but her pa-pa 
and mam-ma. 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 113 

“ May be,” said mam-ma, “ it 
will prove that there is some-thing 
else to make a time for, as you say, 
be-sides the birth-day.” 

“ Why, what do you mean, mam- 
ma ? ” said Rose. 

“May I trust you not to speak 
of it to the lit-tle ones, if I tell 
you ? ” 

Rose said she would be sure not 
to tell, and then her mam-ma told 
her the se-cret. 

A let-ter had come from Aunt 
Kate, to say that they were to sail 


8 


114 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


for home in three days from the 
time she wrote ; and pa-pa thought 
they would reach Brook-side on 
Tom’s birth-day. They were to 
come there first, and stay two or 
three weeks, be-fore they went to 
their own home, in town. 

Rose gave such a scream of joy, 
when this news was told, that Tom 
heard it, and came with a rush up 
the stairs, to see what could ail 
her. 

But by the time he found her, 
Rose was as grave and still as a 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


115 


judge with a bald head, and hard 
at work to put on ba-by Bell’s 
sock, which she had kicked off. 

“What’s the mat-ter, Rose? I 
thought I heard you give a great 
squeal just now.” 

“Why, I am not do-ing a-ny 
thing,” said Rose ; “ do hold your 
foot still, Miss Bell.” 

Tom gave a look round the 
room, as if to spy out the joke; 
then he said, “Well, that’s fun-ny !” 
and went down a-gain. 

Mam-ma told Rose that she did 


116 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


not want the boys to know, for 
fear they would tell I-da ; and she 
did not want her to think of such 
a thing till they were sure her pa- 
pa and mam-ma would come that 
day. 

But, as it turned out, no one 
knew it, for sure, un-til they came. 

It was near time for din-ner, on 
Tom’s birth-day. Ba-by Bell was 
in her cab, and Rose was draw-ing 
her round the yard ; while I-da 
had her best doll in her cab, that 
her aunt-y gave her at Christ-mas, 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


117 


and drew it round by the side of 
the large one. 

Tom and Ned had gone round 
to the gar-den, with Ned’s cart, to 
haul off a load of weeds from their 
beds. 

Just then a hack drove up to 
the gate. The lit-tle boys ran 
round in front, at the sound ; and 
Rose and I-da stood still to look. 

Who should jump out first but 
pa-pa him-self ! Then he gave his 
hands to a la-dy to help her out, 
and Rose gave a cry, — 


118 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


“ They have come ! they have 
come! 0, I-da, it is your dear 
pa-pa and mam-ma come back ! ” 

Lit-tle I-da ran to the gate, and 
was caught in her own pa-pa’s 
arms. 

I dare say she would not have 
known him, but for what Rose 
said ; for you know they had been 
gone six months, and I-da was not 
yet four years old. 

But she knew what the kiss and 
the hug meant, and she threw her 
arms round her pa-pa’s neck, and 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


119 


kissed him, and then cried, “My 
dear mam-ma! ” 

Aunt Kate held her close, as 
she said, o-ver and o-ver, “My 
dar-ling ! My dar-ling ! ” 

Then Rose, and Tom, and Ked 
each came in for their turn; and 
by that time mam-ma had heard 
the cries of joy, and came run- 
ning down the walk for her share 
of kiss-es; and then Rose ran 
back for ba-by Bell, who still sat 
in her cab where she was left, and 
drew her down to meet Aunt 
Kate. 


120 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


Such a time of joy as it was ! 
All in the house came to shake 
hands, — Ruth, and Jane, and 
Mike; and Tray barked, and the 
chil-dren jumped a-round in glee. 

Ruth thought they would nev-er 
sit down to their din-ner; she was 
in fear lest her good things should 
get cold by wait-ing. 

But at last they all sat down, 
though the talk still went on. 

u 0, Tom,” said Rose, “ is not 
this a grand birth-day treat ? ” 
And Tom was sure it was, — the 
best that could have been had. 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


121 


XI. 

FOURTH OF JU-LY. 

Those were three hap-py weeks, 
I can tell you, — the three weeks 
which Un-cle Will and Aunt Kate 
spent at Brook-side. 

It was joy for all the rest to see 
lit-tle I-da; she was so mer-ry 
and so full of glee. 

It did not seem to the chil-dren 
as if Un-cle Will could have been 
so sick ; he was as full of fun with 


122 FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 

them as ev-er, and let them lead 
him by the hand to see the pigs, 
and the cow, and the hens, and all 
that the young ones liked best. 

Then he had a good play with 
them, each day, at some time. 

He would kneel down, and let 
them tie a band o-ver his eyes, to 
blind-fold him, and then he would 
chase them round and round the 
trees, on the grass. 

Some-times he would chase 
them up so close, that Rose would 
cry, “0, Un-cle Will, can’t you 
see ? ” 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


123 


Then he would say, “ Why, did 
you not blind-fold me, your own 
self? ” 

And then, as like as not, he 
would bump his head a-gainst a 
tree, and rub it, and make a great 
time, saying, “ There ! don’t you 
see I am as blind as a bat ? ” 

The chil-dren knew quite well 
that he could see, out of a lit-tle 
crack ; but he made all the more 
fun for them in that way. . 

The Fourth of Ju-ly came while 
Un-cle Will was at Brook-side, 


124 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


too ; and as the stores were shut, 
pa-pa and Un-cle Will were both 
at home to spend the day, which 
was nice. 

“ Un-cle Will said, in the morn- 
ing, “Shall we take the young 
ones in-to town to-day, to see 
the show ? ” 

“ I think it is not best,” said pa- 
pa ; “ they will all get tired, and 
you will, too. 

“We have some fire- works to 
set off for them, in the e-ven-ing ; 
and if their mam-ma says, ‘Yes,’ 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


125 


we can let- them ask some of their 
play-mates to see them, and they 
can have tea, out on the grass.” 

Pa-pa knew this would suit Un- 
cle Will; for he did love to see 
the young folks hap-py. 

Mam-ma said, u Yes,” and then 
Tom and Rose went round, in the 
wag-on, with Un-cle Will to drive, 
to ask their school-mates to come 
to tea, and then see the fire-works. 

A gay lit-tle par-ty they were. 
Be-fore tea was read-y, Un-cle 
Will helped them to rig up for a 
grand march on the lawn. 


126 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 



Girls and boys — such an odd 
band of troops yon nev-er did see ! 
But they had lots of fun. Un- 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


127 


cle Will put on a big pa-per cap 
him-self, and came out to drill 
them, and lie made them laugh so ! 

John Wilde said to Tom, “I 
nev-er saw such a fun-ny man as 
your un-cle is ! ” 

Then came the tea, out on the 
grass, which was the best place, as 
they all said. 

Ba-by Bell was out with them. 
Her mam-ma put a quilt on the 
grass, and set her down on it 
where she could see the fun ; and 
she seemed as hap-py as a-ny of 
them. 


128 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDKEN. 


Then they had more plays, un- 
til it was dark, so they could see 
the fire-works. 

When it was time for these, the 
chil-dren all got on the steps, in a 
safe place, while Mr. Dale, and Mr. 
Wells, and Mike set them off. 

They had quite a fine lot, for 
they had a chance to send in-to 
town for some more, as there were 
to be so ma-ny to see them. 

There were wheels, and rock- 
ets, and Ro-man can-dles, and one 
or two snakes, which ran in the 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


129 


grass, and made all the girls 
jump. 

All went off well, and the lit-tle 
folks were much pleased, and had 
a fine time. 

They did not for-get, be-fore 
they went home, to thank the kind 
friends who took so much pains to 
please them. 

At last Aunt Kate’s house in 
town was all in or-der for them to 
go in, and they set a day to go to 
their own home. 

The chil-dren were sor-ry that 


9 


130 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


the vis-it was o-ver; they could 
not bear to have Un-cle Will, and 
Aunt Kate, and dear I-da go 
a-way. 

But Aunt Kate said, “We shall 
not be far off now, dear pets ; you 
will see us on Sun-days, you know; 
we shall go to church to-geth-er, 
as we used to do.” 

“ And you will come in-to town 
at oth-er times, I hope ; and we 
shall come out here of-ten, while 
the warm days last.” 

It did seem like los-ing half the 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


131 


house to part with I-da, dear lit- 
tle I-da, whom all loved so much ! 

As for I-da her-self, she of 
course liked the thought of go-ing 
to her own home a-gain ; but she 
did not want to leave them all at 
Brook-side, — least of all, the dear 
ba-by, and “her Ned,” as she 
called him. 

One of her play-mates was to 
go with her. 

O-ney told Mrs. Wells that, if 
she were will-ing that I-da should 
have Shag, she wished to give him 
to her. 


132 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


Aunt Kate thanked O-ney, and 
said she should be ver-y glad in- 
deed to have such a pet for I-da, 
for she would miss the chil-dren at 
first, and be quite lone-ly, when 
they first went borne. 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


133 


XII. 

THE LOOSE TEETH. 

Rose went to town to spend a 
day at Aunt Kate’s quite soon — 
much soon-er than she thought of 
do-ing. 

This was the way it came a-bout. 

Rose had two teeth, which, her 
mam-ma said, must be ta-ken out, 
as they were in the way of the 
new teeth which were grow-ing up. 

Her mam-ma thought she could 


134 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


pull them out with a waxed thread, 
if Rose would let her try. 

But Rose would not let her 
touch them at all, she was so 
a-fraid of the hurt. 

Mike said, “Tie a string to the 
tooth, Miss Rose, and tie one end 
to the bed-post, and then run, and 
out will come the tooth ! ” 

But Rose did not like the plan ; 
in fact, the tears would come in 
her eyes if her mam-ma did but 
speak of the teeth. 

She had lost one tooth, no one 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


135 


knew when. Her pa-pa said, with 
a laugh, “That tooth must have 
gone down her throat, for he was 
sure Rose would not have let it 
come out of the front door ! ” 

Rose did not like them to laugh 
at her, but still she could not bear 
to let a-ny one touch the teeth. 

“Come, Rose,” said her pa-pa, 
“go in-to town with me to-day, 
and Dr. Nott will take out those 
teeth, with his bright nip-pers, be- 
fore you can say, Boo ! ” 

But Rose turned pale at the 


136 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


thought of Dr. ISTott and his tools. 
She went with her mam-ma once 
when she had a tooth to be filled, 
and though her mam-ma said it 
did not hurt at all, Rose had a 
great dread of the bright, sharp 
things she saw on the stand. She 
thought pa-pa’s plan was ten times 
worse than the string. 

One day, — it was on Sun-day, 
af-ter tea, — mam-ma was read-ing 
to the chil-dren, out on the door- 
step, where it was nice and cool. 

She read them a tale of the days 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


137 


when those who loved the Lord 
Je-sus were hat-ed for His Name’s 
sake, and ma-ny of them were put 
to death, when they would not 
give up their faith in Him. 

The tale told of a young boy, 
who loved the Lord Christ. 

He was ta-ken from his friends, 
and brought be-fore a king, who 
tried all ways he could think of to 
coax him to say he would not love 
and serve the Lord Je-sus. 

At last the king put on a look 
of great rage, and said, “If you 


138 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


will not give up this faith, I will 
tell these men to burn you in a 
fire.” 

The brave boy went up to a fire 
near by, and held out his hand, 
close to the flame, to show them 
that he did not fear. 

Said he, “The Lord whom I 
serve will help me to bear the 
pain, though you should burn me 
to death ! ” 

u 0, mam-ma ! did they burn 
him ? ” 

“ No, dear ; not at that time. 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


139 


The king want-ed to try him, to 
see if he could not make him give 
up his faith; but when he found 
he could not, he let him go. 

“ But a great ma-ny were put to 
death, in ver-y cru-el ways; not 
on-ly men and wo-men, but lit-tle 
chil-dren, too.” 

“ 0, mam-ma, I don’t see how 
they could bear such dread-ful 
pain ! ” said Rose. 

“ It was as the brave Chris-tian 
boy said, my love ; the Lord gave 
them strength, in their time of 


140 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


need, when they called up-on 
Him.” 

“Will Je-sus help us to bear 
pain now ? ” asked Rose. 

“ Most sure-ly He will, my 
child ; He nev-er fails to help those 
who put their trust in Him, and 
pray to Him.” 

Rose did not say a-ny more 
then, but she seemed to think a 
good deal. 

The next morn-ing, as they were 
at break-fast, Rose said, — 

“ Pa-pa, will you take me with 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


141 


you to-day to town, to have my 
teeth out?” 

Her pa-pa looked at the lit-tle 
girl, and saw that she had made 
up her mind to have it done. 

“Yes, dear,” said he, “I shall be 
glad to take a brave lit-tle girl to 
town with me; and I dare say 
Aunt Kate will be glad to take 
care of you the rest of the day, 
af-ter Dr. Nott has done his lit-tle 
job.” 

This made Rose smile, but she 
looked quite pale. 


142 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


“ Run, now, quick, my pet, and 
get read-y ; for it is ’most time to 
start.” 

So Rose had no time to think 
what was to be done, un-til she 
found her-self in the cars, on the 
way to town. 

Then she shut her eyes, and said 
in her heart a lit-tle prayer, which 
she had said be-fore that morn- 
ing. It was this : — 

“ Lord Je-sus, make me brave, 
and help me to bear the hurt and 
pain. A-men.” 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


143 


Per-haps }'0u say, u What a fuss 
Rose made a-bout two loose teeth ! 
I would not mind hav-ing them 
out ! ” 

Per-haps you do not mind such 
things as much as she did; and 
per-haps Rose would have borne 
oth-er tri-als bet-ter than you do. 

Rose was but a weak lit-tle girl ; 
but you see she took the best way 
to grow strong. 

When the den-tist put her up in 
his great chair, Rose did not say 
a word, but did just as he told 
her to. 


144 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


The teeth were not so loose as 
they seemed, and it did hurt to 
have them out; but it was all 
done in a mo-ment, and then how 
glad Rose was ! 

Dr. Kott said she was a brave 
child, and her pa-pa seemed much 
pleased with her. 

Then she went to Aunt Kate’s, 
and had a hap-py time un-til pa- 
pa came for her to go home. 

When her mam-ma asked a-bout 
the teeth, Rose said, in her ear, — 

“Mam-ma, I asked Je-sus to 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


145 


help me to keep still, and I know 
He did.” 

A day or two af-ter, A-my and 
Lu-cy Bond came to play with 
Rose. A-my saw that she had 
lost two of her teeth, and asked 
her a-bout it. 

When Rose told her how she 
had them ont, A-my said, “Why, 
I wish you could have gone to the 
man that pulled out my big tooth ! 

“I did not know a-ny thing 

a-bout it ; he made me suck a big 

bag, and I went to sleep, and when 
10 


146 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


I waked up, my tooth was out, and 
he held it up to show it to me.” 

“ 0, how nice ! ” cried Rose. 
But then she thought a lit-tle, and 
a smile came on her face. 

“A-my,” said she, “ I think, af- 
ter all, I am glad that I had my 
teeth out the way I did, and felt 
the hurt. 

“For, you know, we must all 
have pain to bear at some time, 
and I am glad now that I know 
we can get help to bear it, if we 
ask for it.” 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


147 


Rose said this in a low tone, and 
A-my gave her a kiss, and said, 
“I know what you mean, Rose, 
and I will keep it in mind.” 


148 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


XIII. 

NED AND I-DA. 

I think Ned missed lit-tle I-da, 
when she went home, more than 
a-ny one else; for they were so 
near of an age, and they went 
round, hand in hand, talk-ing with 
each oth-er, much of the time. 

I-da missed Ned, too, you may 
be sure. At last Aunt Kate sot 
up a plan to please them both. 

It was for Ned and I-da to send 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


149 


let-ters to each oth-er. Of course 
they could not write them-selves, 
but they were to say just what 
they would like to put in the let- 
ter, and Aunt Kate wrote for I-da, 
and then put the pen in her hand, 
and held her hand to guide it, that 
she might sign her own name. 

Rose wrote most of Ned’s let- 

/ 

ters ; that is, she print-ed the 
words, for she could not write 
well yet. 

This plan gave great joy to the 
two lit-tle ones, and they sent let- 


150 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


ters to each oth-er two or three 
times a week. 

You see, they did not need to 
put stamps on their let-ters, and 
send them by mail; but pa-pa 
took Ned’s let-ters, when he went 
to town in the morn-ing to his 
store, and he brought back I-da’s 
let-ters at night. 

I will give you a cop-y of one 
of Ned’s let-ters, and of one of 
I-da’s, that you may see what fun- 
ny lit-tle chats they had in this 
way: — 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


151 


“ Dear Ida : How do you do 
to-day? and how is Shag? and 
how is Spot? 

“ I am go-ing to ride with Mike 
this morn-ing, and Tom is to go, 
too. I don’t know where we shall 
go, but Mike says he can-not go 
to town. I wish we could ; then 
we should see you, and I would 
give you a good hug. 

“Tom got some cat-nip to put 
on poor Snow’s grave, ’cause Mike 
says cats like cat-nip. But Rose 
wants to put a snow-ball bush by 


152 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


it, ’cause, you know, her name was 
Snow. 

“Now I don’t want to tell a-ny 
more this time, but you must tell 
a let-ter for me, quick, ’cause I am 
your Wed.” 

Here is one of I-da’s let-ters to 
Wed : — 

“ Dear Wed : You is a good 
boy to write me a nice let-ter. I 
gived it a kiss, and I put it in 
my lit-tle bas-tick. [ Bas-Jcet , she 
meant.] 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


153 


“ I went up street with mam-ma, 
and Shag went, too; and Shag 
would run off, first front of us, and 
then back of us, and I was so 
’fraid he would be lost ! If Shag 
should be lost, I should cry re-al 
hard — should-n’t you ? 

“ Spot likes Shag now, and she 
does not spit at him a bit, and she 
will eat right off from Shag’s plate. 

“ I want to see ba-by Bell, and 
I -want to see you, too. 

“ ISTow I will put my name here. 

“ Ida.” 


154 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


One day, when Wed got a let-ter 
from I-da, he was so proud of it, 
that he went round to show it to 
all in the house, and then he went 
out to the barn, to show it to Mike. 

As he came back, he struck his 
toe on a brick which lay in the 
path, and fell and hit his head on 
the door-sill. 

Ruth heard him cry, and she 
ran out to him. 

“That bad old brick!” cried 
Wed; “it just threw me down.” 

“ Poor head ! ” said Ruth ; “ I 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


155 


will put a bit of wet brown pa-per 
on the bump, so it will not swell.” 

So Ruth got the pa-per, and put 
it on ; but Red still cried, for the 
bump made his head ache. 

“ See here, Red,” said Ruth ; “ I 
say that brick has no right to be 
there in the path, to throw folks 
down ! 

“Why don’t you get the ham- 
mer, and pound it all up fine, like 
dust, and then no one can trip up 
o-ver it a-gain ? ” 

Red liked this plan; Ruth knew 


156 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


he would, for he liked to use tools 
as well as Tom did. 

He for-got his head-ache, ran to 
the barn for Tom’s ham-mer, and 
went to work at the poor brick 
with all his might. 

His mam-ma came down to 
speak to Ruth, and she looked out 
at the door, and saw Ned at work. 

“What in the world can that 
child be do-ing ? ” said she. 

Ruth told her the way she took 
to cure the bump on his head, and 
it made his mam-ma laugh well. 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


157 


By the time the brick was 
poimd-ed to dust, Ned was in high 
glee, and went off to find Tray, 
and have a race with him. 


158 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


XIV. 

THE NEXT YEAR. 

Now I must skip o-ver a whole 
year, in my sto-ry, for I have not 
time to tell you of all that took 
place at Brook-side, week by week, 
and month by month. 

I want to give you a peep at 
Rose, and Tom, and Ned, and ba- 
by Bell, as they were a year on 
from the time of which I have 
told you. 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


159 


Now, of course, Rose was more 
than eight years old; Tom was 
sev-en, and Ned and I-da were 
a-bout five ; that is, Ned was three 
months more than five years old, 
and I-da was three months less 
than five. 

As to ba-by Bell, she was more 
than a year and a half old, and she 
had made good use of her time to 
grow, as you will see by this pic- 
ture. 

There is Miss Bell, in high glee, 
on her mam-ma’s lap; and there 


160 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


is our friend Ned, on the floor, still 

with a ham-mer in his hand ; but 

you need not think he kept it in 

his hand all the year ! 

*/ 

Ned looks so large, in this pic- 
ture, that you will think he must 
go to school now", with Tom and 
Rose. 

I dare say he would have done 
so, but they did not go to school. 
In fact, Miss El-la’s school had 
come to an end. 

In the course of the fall, there 
came a Mr. Hyde to see Mrs. 



BABY BELL, MAMMA, AND NED. Page 1G0- 














FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


161 


Bond. He seemed to have a 
great deal to say to her, or to the 
girls, for he came ev-er-y week. 

At last the chil-dren were told 
that they were to haye no more 
school at Mrs. Bond’s, for this Mr. 
Hyde was to come and take off 
their Miss El-la, as his bride. 

The chil-dren of Miss El-la’s 
school all felt bad-ly, at first, at 
this news. But when they saw 
that Miss El-la was ver-y bright 
and hap-py, they came to think it 
was not such a bad thing, af-ter all. 


11 


162 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


Mr. Hyde got Mrs. Bond to let 
him have a par-ty at her house for 
all the chil-dren, on the last day 
of school. 

He said he had some fear that 
they did not like him, be-cause 
he had come to break up their 
school. 

So the chil-dren were asked to 
the par-ty, and Mr. Hyde took so 
much pains to please them, and 
made so much fun for them, that 
they could not help lik-ing him. 

Rose said to A-rny, “I don’t 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


163 


know blit Mr. Hyde is nice e-nough 
to have Miss El-la, af-ter all ! ” 

“Yes, he is ''most good e-nough,” 
said A-my ; “ he is real kind.” 

A-my could not think it was 
quite the thing for a-ny one to 
come and claim her own dear 
sis-ter ! 

One sad change had come to 
pass in this year which was gone : 
Mr. Wells, lit-tle I-da’s pa-pa, and 
the chil-dren’s uncle Will, died in 
the win-ter. 

You know how Rose, and Tom, 


164 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


and Ned, and their pa-pa and 
mam-ma, all loved him'; and you 
will know how sad it must have 
been for them to give up such a 
good, kind friend. But it was not 
sad for him, for he was a good 
man, — one who loved Glod. 

And the Bi-ble says, “Bless-ed 
are the dead w T ho die in the Lord.” 

Then poor Aunt Kate and lit-tle 
I-da were a-lone. And Mr. Dale 
said they must come and live at 
Brook-side all the time. 

So Aunt Kate’s house in town 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


165 


was sold, and now, once more, lit- 
tle I da’s home was at Brook-side ; 
and she was just like a sis-ter to 
Rose, and Tom, and Ned, and 
ba-by Bell. 

One more new thing had come 
to pass : Mike and O-ney had a 
dear lit-tle boy ba-by at their 
house. 

His name was Pat. O-ney gave 
him that name be-eause it was her 
own fath-er’s name ; his whole 
name was Pat-rick, but they called 
the ba-by Pat. 


166 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


Rose and Tom said Pat was not 
much of a name; but lit-tle Pat 
was, as Mike said, “ A broth of a 
boy ! ” 

He was a great pet and play- 
thing with the chil-dren. Lit-tle 
I-da would go down and sit by the 
hour to rock him, while O-ney was 
at work. 

She would take Shag with her, 
and the first time lit-tle Pat seemed 
to no-tice and smile at a-ny thing, 
was when Shag was jump-ing up 
and down by him. 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


167 


O-ney was ver-y hap-py with 
her boy; she called him all sorts 
of pet names. The one which 
made Rose laugh most was, “ her 
kit-ten of gold.” 

“ 0, O-ney,” Rose would say, 
“how fun-ny you are! If Pat 
were made of gold, he would not 
be a re-al boy ; he could-n’t kick, 
or suck his fists, as he does now ” 
“Well, sure, he is worth his 
weight in gold ! ” O-ney would say, 
and give him a hug and a kiss at 
the same time. 


168 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


There was one more new thing 
go-ing on, which gave all much 

joy. 

At last a start had been made 
for a church at Brook-side. It 
was be-gun as soon as the ground 
was dry in the spring, and now the 
walls were go-ing up fast. 

Just be-fore I-da’s pa-pa was 
taken sick, the last time, he put 
down his name for a large sum, to 
help build this church. 

It was not far from Mr. Dale’s 
house — just a nice walk. The 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


169 


chil-dren loved dear-ly to go and 
watch the men at work, and mam- 
ma let them go of-ten, for she felt 
sure they would keep out of the 
w r ay of the work-men. 

One day one of the men said to 
Tom, “Why do you young folks 
like to come here so much, and 
just stand still and look on ? ” 

“ 0,” said Tom, “ ’cause you are 
build-ing our church, you know; 
and we shall be so glad to see it 
done ! ” 

“ 0, is that it ? Then I sup-pose 
you like to go to church.” 


170 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


“ Why, yes,” cried Tom ; “ don’t 
you f ” 

One or two oth-er work-men 
looked at the man with a smile, at 
this. But he did not smile; he 
turned off to his work, and seemed 
to have some new thought in his 
mind. 

It may have been this: “If 
these lit-tle ones love the house of 
God so much, why do not I care 
for it, too ? ” 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


171 


XY. 

THE BARE-FOOT BOYS. 

One day, Tom came run-ning in 
to his mara-ma, and said, “ 0, 
mam-ma, may Ned and I go bare- 
foot? John Wilde does ; and it’s 
so nice, these hot days ! shoes are 
so hot ! ” 

His mam-ma was just go-ing to 
say, “ 0, no, in-deed ! ” But pa-pa 
was at home that noon, and he 
laughed, and said, u 0, let them, if 


172 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


they want to. All boys like to 
go bare-foot, on hot clays, in the 
conn-try ; /used to.” 

“But they are not used to it, 
and they may get things in their 
feet.” 

“ I will risk it,” said their pa-pa. 
“ Let them try to-day.” 

Off went the shoes and stock- 
ings, then, and Tom and Ned 
danced a-bout like colts. 

“ Now we can wade in the 
brook,” said Tom. 

“Why, you have leave to do 
that a-ny clay,” said his mam-ma. 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


173 


The brook was not at all deep, 
and she had no fear in let-ting 
them play by it, or wade in it. 

u Yes,” said Tom ; “ but now we 
shall not have to stop to take off 
our shoes; that is such a plague, 
you see, mam-ma.” 

So, all the rest of that hot day, 
the young ones were down by the 
brook ; Rose and I-da, too, for 
they had leave to wade when they 
liked. 

The next day, they want-ed to 
go bare-foot a-gain, and mam-ma 
said they might. 


174 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


As they were at play that 
morn-ing, back of the house, on 
the hill that sloped down to the 
brook, Tom saw a snake in the 
grass. 

The girls ran off at once ; girls 
do hate snakes, you know. But 
Tom said, “ Ned, let us each take 
a stick, and poke him, and make 
him go in-to his hole.” 

“ Where is his hole ? ” asked 
Ned. 

“ I don’t know, but we will see 
when he runs in-to it.” 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


175 


The snake knew where his hole 
was; but the boys were right in 
his way with their sticks. 

ITe got un-der a loose stone, and 
Tom and Ned then tried to poke 
him out. 

At last Mr. Snake got mad, as 
boys say. I dare say he said to 
him-self, in the snake talk, u What 
right have those young scamps to 
poke at me ? I’ll chase them ; so 
I will.” 

And out he came from the stone, 
mad as he could be; and how 


176 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


those lit-tle bare feet did hop up 
and down ! 

It was all they could do to keep 
out of the way of the snake, as he 
dart-ed round af-ter them. They 
did not dare to turn and run, lest 
the snake should run fast-er than 
they could, and bite them. 

Just then, Mike came by, and 
saw the fun. 

He took a big stick and killed 
the snake, and then he stood and 
laughed, loud and long. 

“ Ha, ha ! ” said he ; “ how you 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 177 

lit-tle chaps did dance to the tune 
that snake played you ! Lit-tle 
bare-foot boys had best let snake- 
holes a-lone, I think ! ” 

When Mr. Dale came home, 
Mike could not help tell-ing him 
of the scene with the snake, and 
he had a laugh, too. 

Tom was vexed, for he did not 
like to be laughed at. He said to 
Mike, “ It was re-al mean of you 
to tell ! ” 

“ Why, my boy,” said pa-pa, 
“there is no harm done. It was 


12 


178 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


not just the thing for you to vex 
the poor snake, but I don’t think 
you meant to hurt him ; and a-ny 
of us would dance, I think, with a 
snake hiss-ing round our bare toes. 
I know /did, once.” 

“ When was that, pa-pa? please 
tell us.” 

“It was when I was a lit-tle 
chap, a-bout the age of Tom. I 
was go-ing through a field of rye 
on my fath-er’s farm.” 

“Was it high, pa-pa, like that 
we saw at the Park Farm % ” 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


179 


“ Yes, high a-bove my head, and 
just a nar-row foot-path through it. 

“ I was run-ning a-long with my 
lit-tle bare feet, when I came right 
up-on a big black snake, ly-ing 
a-cross the path. 

“My two feet went up in the 
ail*, quick as thought, I can tell 
you ; and down I came, be-yond 
the snake. I did not want to go 
back by the same path.” 

“Rose ran off, when she saw 
the snake,” said Ned. 

“ And Ned would have been 


180 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


glad to run off too, a short time 
af-ter — would he not ? ” 

“Yes,” said Ned, “I don’t like 
snakes one bit.” 

“ Come, boys,” they heard Rose 
call, “let us give Bell a good ride 
down the road now, in her cab, 
and you be the team ; raam-ma 
says she may go now, it is so cool 
and nice.” 

“ Well,” said Tom ; “ come, Ned, 
we will pull like a re-al team.” 

“ But put on your shoes,” cried 
Rose ; “ we are to go on the road, 
you know.” 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


181 


“0, ho!” said Ned; “a re-al 
horse does not want shoes.” 

“Why, yes, a horse does have 
shoes, too. Ask Mike.” 

“ Yes,” said Mike ; “ old Dick 
would not go well on the road, if 
he lost off one of his shoes.” 

“ But not shoes to lace up, like 
ours ; they are such a plague ! ” 

“ Would you like bet-ter to have 
shoes to nail on, then, like a horse’s 
shoes ? ” 

Tom thought that would be 
worse than the strings. He and 


182 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


Ned put on their stock-ings and 
shoes, for they would not miss the 
fun of tak-ing Bell out on the 
road. 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


183 


XVI. 

BA-BY BELL’S TRICKS.. 

Miss Bell had need of some 
one af-ter her, all the time; for 
since she had found the use of her 
feet, she was, as Jane said, “in-to 
ev-er-y thing.” 

She was full of life and fun as a 
ba-by could be, but she was a sad 
rogue, in her way. 

One day, Jane had her down in 
the kitch-en, to give her some 
bread and milk. 


184 FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 

Ruth was at work in the wash- 
room, and she said, “Jane, can you 
hang out some of these clothes for 
me ? Put ba-by down, and let her 
run a-bout here, while you do it. 
I can have an eye on her.” 

So Jane put Bell down to trot 
a-bout, while she hung out the 
things on the line for Ruth. 

Bell found the box of clothes- 
pins, for Jane took but a few of 
them, and she seemed to think 
those were nice toys for her. 

“Ah, you have got those — have 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


185 


you ? ” said Ruth ; “ well, you can- 
not hurt your-self with those.” 

So Ruth went on with her wash, 
and Bell was quite still. 

By and by Jane came in, in 
haste, and said, “I want more 
pins ; where are they, Ruth ? ” 

“ Why, there ; ba-by has them 
on the floor.” 

But no ; ba-by had got hold of 
some-tiling else, and not a trace 
of the clothes-pins was to be seen ! 

“ Why, what can the lit-tle witch 
have done with them ? ” cried 


186 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


Ruth ; “ they were all here just 
now. Bell, did you eat them ? ” 

Bell laughed and crowed, and 
ran a-bout in great glee, to see 
Ruth and Jane hunt a-round for 
the pins; but she could not tell 
what she had done with them. 

“ W ell, this beats all ! ” said 
Ruth. 

At last they gave up the hunt, 
and laid the things on the grass, 
to dry as best they could. 

Be-fore the next wash-day, Mrs. 
Bale had to send and buy a lot of 
new clothes-pins. 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


187 


One day, a week or two af-ter, 
Ned was at play on the floor of 
the kitch-en, and he said, “Why, 
Ruth, here is a hole right in the 
floor.” 

“ Yes,” said Ruth, “ I know ; it 
is a knot-hole.” 

There was a thick mat which 
lay in that place most of the time, 
but Ned had pushed it a-side in 
his play. 

“ I can see right down in-to the 
cel-lar,” said Ned ; and he put his 
eye down to the hole. “ Why, 


188 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


Ruth, I see some-thing; I see a 
whole lot of clothes-pins down 
there. Shall I go down and get 
them ? ” 

Ruth threw down her work, and 
laughed. “Well, well ! ” said she ; 
“ what a lit-tle witch ! See here, 
Jane; come arid see where ba-by 
Bell hid the pins.” 

The knot-hole was o-ver the 
back part of the cel-lar, where no 
one went. ISTed went down, and 
brought up six doz-en pins, which 
Bell had put down through the 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


189 


hole, one by one. Wo won-der she 
was still, just then ! 

This will show you what pranks 
such a ba-by is up to. 

Rose could help her mam-ma a 
great deal by keep-ing watch of 
Bell, lead-ing her a-bout, and play- 
ing with her; and she liked this 
sort of work, for she loved her 
ba-by sis-ter ver-y dear-ly. 

Rose made up a lit-tle song to 
sing to Bell, to the tune of “ I’ve 
got a six-pence.” This was the 
first of it : — 


190 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


u I’ve got a sis-ter, 

A dear lit-tle sis-ter; 

I love my sis-ter, 

And she loves me. 

I think she’s a sweet one ; 

I think she’s a dar-ling; 

I think she’s a fun-ny girl 
As ev-er I did see.” 

But Rose used to change the 
words al-most ev-er-y time she 
sang it, to make Bell laugh. 

When Bell be-gan to talk, the 
chil-dren had great fun with her. 
They loved to teach her to say 
words. 

The first word she spoke was 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 191 

Bird. It was in the spring, when 
the birds first be-gan to come : a 



lit-tle bird hopped down on the 
path where Bell could see it well, 


192 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


as she sat in her mam-ma’s lap at 
the win-dow. 

Bell be-gan to clap her hands 
and crow at it, and her mam-ma 
said, “ See the pret-ty bird ! ” 
“ Bird ! ” cried lit-tle Bell. 

Her mam-ma was much pleased, 
and she tried to make her say it 
a-gain, when Rose came in. But 
Bell could not do it a-gain, and 
she did not speak a-ny more plain 
words for a month or two ] then 
she be-gan to talk all at once. 

She called Rose, Lose ; but the 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 193 

rest of the chil-dren’s names she 
said ver-y plain-ly. She loved to 
run out of the door, and call, 
“ I-da, I-da ! ” And I-da would 
run to her then, as fast as she 
could come, and give her a kiss, 
and say, “You dear lit-tle thing! 
Did you hear her call me, mam- 
ma? ” 

Ba-by Bell stood in fear of one 
thing — that was, a feath-er. Was 
not she a fun-ny ba-by to be 
a-fraid of a feath-er ? 

One day she crept up stairs by 


13 


194 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


her-self, to go to Rose’s room. 
You must know that Rose had a 
lit-tle room, all to her-self, now 
that she was eight years old. 

She thought a great deal of her 
room, and liked to keep her lit-tle 
knick-knacks and gifts from her 
friends there, and in nice or-der. 

She had her sweet mu-sie box 
there, too ; and she of-ten used to 
take Bell and I-da up in-to her 
room, and wind it up, to please 
them. 

But Bell liked to get in-to the 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


195 


room when Rose was not there, 
and then she was apt to make sad 
work with her sis-ter’s pret-ty 
things. 

On this day that I spoke of, she 
got up to the door, and lo ! a 
feath-er lay on the sill. 

Miss Ba-by did not dare to step 
past the fear-ful thing; so she 
stood still, and be-gan to cry. 

Rose heard her first, and ran to 
her. Bell put her arms round 
her neck, and said, “See, fed-der, 
Lose ! ” 


196 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


“ So it was the fed-der that kept 
you out of my room — was it?” 
said Rose. 

“Well, sis-ter will blow it a- way, 
and take Bell in to hear pret-ty 
box play ! ” 

Af-ter this, when Rose and the 
boys want-ed to keep ba-by’s lit-tle 
hands a-way from a-ny of their 
things, they used to get a feath-er, 
and lay on top of them, and Bell 
would stand and look at it, and 
say, “ Go ’way, fed-der ! ” but she 
would not touch it. 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


197 


XVII. 

THE SWING. 

One clay, when Mr. Dale came 
home, Tom and Ned were down at 
the gate to meet him ; and as he 
came up, Ned was on the gate, 
and Tom was push-ing it back and 
forth, to give him a swing. 

“Don’t swing on the gate, my 
lit-tle boys,” said their pa-pa, as he 
stopped to give them a kiss ; “ it 
is not a good plan.” 


198 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


“ Do yon mean not at all — not 
a-ny time, pa-pa? ” said Tom. 

He and Ned had had a good 
deal of fun swing-ing on the gates, 
and they were sor-ry to give it up. 

“That is what I meant, my 
boy,” said Mr. Dale. “Why? do 
you like to swing ver-y much ? ” 
“Yes, sir,” said both of the boys, 
as they each took a hand which 
their pa-pa held out to them, and 
walked up to the house. 

“How would you like it if I 
were to have a swing put up for 
you — a real swing?” 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


199 


“0, pa-pa, that would be grand ; 
Fred and Well Ray have got one, 
and it is so nice ! Can you do it?” 

“Then Rose could swing, too,” 
said Wed. 

“ That is a good boy, to think 
of sis-ter,” said his pa-pa. 

“Well, I. think I shall have a 
good swing put up soon. I had 
thought of it be-fore. I will see 
a-bout it at once ; and in the mean 
time my boys must wait, and keep 
off from the gates.” 

Af-ter tea, pa-pa went out with 


200 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


the young ones, to see if he could 
find a good place for the swing. 

There was a fine group of trees 
— quite a grove — at the west 
side of the yard and gar-den. 
They made a sweet shad-y spot to 
walk and sit, in sum-mer. 

Once these trees did not be-long 
to Mr. Dale’s place ; he had bought 
the land on which they stood, with- 
in a year. 

All said this was the place for 
the swing; but when Mr. Dale 
came to look at the trees, he did 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


201 


not see a-ny bough that was just 
right for it ; so he said he would 
have a frame put up un-der or by 
the side of one of the trees. 

It was a day or two be-fore he 
could get a man to put up a strong 
frame, that would not give way; 
and Rose and Tom, Ned and I-da, 
had to take an-oth-er les-son in 
wait-ing. 

But at last it was done, and the 
swing put up, and a grand swing 
it was. 

E-ven mam-ma and Aunt Kate 


202 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


liked to go out there and have a 
good swing. Some-times Lu-cy 
and A-my Bond would come up 
to swing with Rose ; in fact, Lu-cy 
and A-my came up to Mr. Dale’s 
of-ten now ; all at the house loved 
them, they were such sweet lit-tle 
girls. 

One day when the girls were 
out, tak-ing turns at the swing, 
Lu-cy said, “ I wish I could think 
of the words of a song we used to 
sing while we were swing-ing, 
when I was at my aunt’s, at 
Lynn.” 



THE SWING. Pago 202. 



















V 














































« 













































FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


203 


“ 0, I wish you could ! ” said 
Rose ; “ how did it be-gin ? ” 

“ It be-gan, ( Swing, swing ! ’ and 
there was some-thing a-bout 1 Don’t 
be a-fraid,’ but I can’t think of it 
now.” 

“Well, I’ll toll you! We can 
make up a song that will do ! ” 
said Rose. “ Let A-my swing 
now, and let us sit down here and 
make it up.” 

“ 0, I can’t make ver-ses,” said 
Lu-cy ; “ at least, I nev-er tried.” 

“Well, let us try,” said Rose; 
“I think we can.” 


204 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


Rose did not for-get what Mike 
said once, in fun, when she tried to 
make the verse a-bout the goat. 

So Lu-cy sat down with Rose, 
to try to make a swing-ing song. 
They had a good deal of fun o-ver 
it, try-ing to i&ake the lines 
rhyme. 

At last they made up this song, 
and A-my said she thought it was 
first rate. So did the boys, when 
they heard it ; and they all learned 
it, to sing while they were swing- 
ing : — 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


205 


11 Swing, swing ! 

The bar is strong; 
Hold the rope, 

And sing a song ! 

“ I’ll swing you, 

And you’11 swing me ; 
O, what fun 
It all will be ! 

“ High, low, 

Here we go. 

High-er yet? 

Pa-pa says, ‘No.’ 

“Here, there, 

Through the air; 

To mind pa-pa 

We will take care.” 


These last lines were a-bout a 
rule that pa-pa made for the lit-tle 


206 FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 

ones. They liked to get Mike, or 
some one else, to swing them quite 
high ; but pa-pa said this was not 
safe ; he said they must not swing 
high-er than the low-est' bough of 
the tree. 

You can see, if you look at the 
pic-ture, that this would be quite 
as high as young chil-dren ought 
to go in a swing. 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


207 


XVIII. 

STO-RY OF JO-SEPH. 

“Tell us a sto-ry, Aunt Kate, 
please! Don’t go in and light a 
lamp to read to us, but tell us a 
sto-ry out here ; it is so nice here.” 

Tom said this one Sun-day 
e-ven-ing, as they sat out on the 
door-steps, af-ter tea. 

They had all been to church, in 
town, that day. You will won-der 
how old Dick could take them all, 


208 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


for I have not told yon that Mr. 
Dale had got a new horse, to 
match Dick ; his name was Bill, 
and the two made a fine span. 

“Well,” said Aunt Kate, “what 
sto-ry would you like to hear 
best ? ” 

“Tell us a-bout Jo-seph, please, 
Aunt Kate,” said lit-tle Ked. 

“ 0, We all know that,” Rose be- 
gan to say ; but she thought of 
the lit-tle ones, and went on : 
“ Kev-er mind! we will like to 
hear it a-gain ; won’t we, Tom ? ” 

So Aunt Kate be-gan: — 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


209 


“ Once there lived a good man, 
who had great flocks of sheep, 
and herds of cat-tie; and he had 
twelve sons.” 

“ 0, what a lot of boys ! ” cried 

Ned. 

“Yes, a fine lot of boys. And 
what nice times they might have 
had, if they had been kind, and 
loved each oth-er! 

“ But they did not al-ways. 

“ One son was named Jo-seph. 
He was a good lad; and God loved 
him. 


14 


210 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


“His fath-er loved him ver-y 
much, be-cause his moth-er was 
dead. His fath-er made him a 
coat of bright col-ors. 

“The oth-er young men were 
vexed when they saw that their 
fath-er loved Jo-seph best, and 
they let bad thoughts come in-to 
their hearts ; they at last came to 
hate Jo-seph ver-y much. 

“ Once on a time, the young men 
had gone off, with the flocks of 
sheep, to find fresh grass for them, 
and they had been gone some time 
from home. 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


211 


“ Their fath-er want-ed to know 
how they got on, and he said to 
Jo-seph, ‘Come, I will send thee 
to thy breth-ren.’ And Jo-seph 
said, ‘Here am I.’ 

“He meant by that, that he 
was read-y to do what his fath-er 
wished. 

“ So the old man said, ‘ Go, I 
pray thee ; see if it be well with 
them, and well with the flocks, and 
bring me word a-gain.’ 

“ So Jo-seph set out to find his 
broth-ers. 


212 FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 

“ He had a long search for them, 
for they had left the place to which 
they drove the flocks at first ; but 
at last a man told him which way 
they had gone. 

“When Jo-seph came near the 
place where his brotli-ers were, 
some of them saw him com-ing. 
And they said, ‘ See ! this dream-er 
is com-ing ! ’ 

“They called him this, be-cause 
he had told them of some dreams 
he had, which they did not like. 

“And these broth-ers said, one 


■ FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 213 

to an-oth-er , 1 Let us kill Jo-seph, 
and cast him in-to some deep pit. 
JSTo one will, know it, and we can 
tell our fath-er that some wild 
beast must have caught him, in 
the way.’ 

“But the old-est of the broth- 
ers had a kind-er heart than the 
rest, and he said, c Ho, do not kill 
him ; but let us cast him in-to this 
pit, and leave him here, and shed 
no blood.’ 

“He meant to come back and 
get Jo-seph out, when the rest 


were gone. 


214 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


“So when Jo-seph came up, 
with kind words on his lips, they 
took him, and tore off his coat, — 
the nice coat that his fath-er made 
him, — and they put him down in 
a deep pit. 

“ The pit had been dug to hold 
wa-ter for the flocks, but there 
was no wa-ter in it then; it was 
dry. 

“ Then these broth-ers were 
glad, and they sat down to eat 
bread. 

“ And as they were eat-ing, 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


215 


there came a band of men that 
way, who were go-ing to a far off 
land to trade. They had cam-els 
to car-ry their goods. 

“ Then one of the bad broth-ers 
said, ‘Come, now, let us sell Jo- 
seph to these men for a slave ; and 
they will take him off with them, 
and sell him a-gain, and then we 
shall not see him a-ny more.’ 

“The oth-ers said, ‘Well, we 
will do so.’ 

“ So they stopped the men, and 
said, ‘ Here is a boy whom we will 
sell to you for a slave.’ 


216 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


“ And the trad-ers paid mon-ey 
for Jo-seph, and took him off. 

“The old-est broth-er was not 
with the rest when they sold Jo- 
seph. When he came back, and 
looked in the pit, and found that 
the lad was gone, he was in great 
grief. 

“But he joined with the rest to 
tell a lie to his fath-er. They took 
Jo-seph’s coat, and dipped it in the 
blood of a kid, and told the poor 
old man that they had found it in 
the way; and he thought some 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


217 


wild beast had killed his dear 
son. 

“So Jo-seph was sold to be a 
slave in the land of E-gypt. But 
God took care of him, and kept 
him from harm, and at last made 
him rich and great, and made him 
to be rul-er o-ver all the land. 

“ And at last there came a time 
when he had it in his pow-er to 
save the life of his broth-ers. 

“And he for-gave them all the 
harm they had done him, and was 
kind to them, and did them all the 
good he could. 


218 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


“ And lie sent for his dear 
old fath-er, and took care of him 
in his last days, and made him 
hap-py.” 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


219 


XIX. 

THE NEW PLAT. 

When Aunt Kate had done tell- 
ing her sto-ry, mam-ma came to 
call them all in to prayers, for it 
was near time for lit-tle folks to 
go to bed. 

So they did not have time to 
talk a-bout the sto-ry that night. 

But the next day they thought 
of it. It was a wet day, and Tom, 
and Ked, and I-da were at play 


220 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


with their toys in the play-room, 
while Rose did her sew-ing in 
Aunt Kate’s room. 

Aunt Kate had be-gun to teach 
the chil-dren now; she had more 
time than their mam-ma, for she 
did not have to keep house, and 
she loved to teach them. 

Ked said, “I am glad I have not 
got a-ny bad broth-ers that hate 
me, as poor Jo-seph had! You 
don’t hate me — do you, Tom? 
You would not put me in a pit ? ” 
Tom laughed, and said, “ Ko, I 
don’t think I would.” 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


221 


“0, see here, Ned; let’s play 
that!” 

“ Play what ? How ? ” asked 
Ned. 

“ Why, let us make a pit ; here, 
we can build one with these blocks, 
by the side of this stool ; and play 
these No-ah’s Ark folks were Jo- 
seph and his broth-ers.” 

“Well,” said Ned, “play this 
one with a red dress was Jo-seph, 
’cause he had a bright new coat, 
you know.” 

Then they built a pit by put- 


222 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


ting blocks on top of oth-ers, round 
and round, by the side of a large 
stool, which was to be the ground. 

I-da got out the No -airs Ark 
men : “ One, two, three, four, five. 
There were more brud-ders than 
that,” she said. 

“That’s so! How smart you 
are, lit-tle I-da ! ” said Tom. “ Now, 
Ned, what shall we do? There 
were on-ly eight in the No-ah’s 
Ark at first, and you have lost 
some : we want — let me see — 
we want e-lev-en.” 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


223 


“ No, twelve,” said Ned. 

“ No,” said Tom 5 “there were 
ten of the bad broth-ers, and Jo- 
seph; and there was one lit-tle 
broth-er at home, that did not go 
out with the flocks. I know, be- 
cause mam-ma told me the sto-ry 
be-fore.” 

“Well,” said Ned, “we can ask 
Rose to cut out some pa-per men 
for the rest.” 

“So we can; you go ask her, 
Ned.” 

Rose want-ed to know what 


224 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


Ned want-ed of six pa-per men; 
and he told her they were play-ing 
Jo-seph. 

Rose could not make out what 
sort of a play that might be ; but 
as she was most done with her 
work, she made haste to fin-ish, 
that she might go and see. 

She found the boys just as they 
were go-ing to let poor Jo-seph 
down in-to the pit, with a bit of 
thread tied round him. 

Then they got some old tin sol- 
diers, for the band of meif to pass 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


225 


by, and they drew Jo-seph up 
a-gain, and sent him off with the 
band. 

They had put Reu-ben off in a 
cor-ner, while this was done. Tom 
said that Reu-ben was the name 
of the one who meant to save Jo- 
seph, and take him back to his 
fath-er. 

When Jo-seph was gone far off 
to the oth-er side of the room, 
they made Reu-ben come and look 
down in-to the pit, and cry. 

Then Rose joined in the play, 


15 


226 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


and they set Joseph up on a 
throne, and made his broth-ers 
come and bow be-fore him, and 
ask him to sell them some corn, so 
they need not starve. 

Then they made lit-tle pa-per 
bags, which were the bags of corn 
that Jo-seph gave his broth-ers. 
And they got up Ned’s horse and 
cart, for the wag-on which Jo-seph 
sent to bring up his fath-er to 
him. 

Then there was a great move. 
The old man, and lit-tle pa-per 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


227 


chil-dren in the wag-on; and all 
the No-ah’s Ark and farm-yard 
an-i-mals, for the flocks and herds ; 
and Jo-seplfs broth-ers, all go-ing 
to live with Jo-seph, that he might 
give them bread to eat, and take 
care of them. 

It took so long to move all 
these, and to make them all act 
their parts, that the din-ner bell 
rang be-fore a-ny of them thought 
it was time for it. The new play 
had kept them all a long time. 


228 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


XX. 

LIT-TLE BOY BLUE. 

Af-ter this, it was a play which 
the cliil-dren liked ver-y much, to 
act out some sto-ry they had read 
or heard. 

Ba-by Bell had a large Moth-er 
Goose book, full of pic-tures and 
rhymes. It was fun-ny to see her 
pore o-ver it, look-ing at the pic- 
tures. Of-ten she would take it 
to her mam-ma, or Rose, or Aunt 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


229 


Kate, and say, “ Please lead to-ly 
for Bell.” 

One day Jane had her in her 
lap to show her the pic-tures. She 
showed her the pic-ture of Lit-tle 
Boy Bine, and said the rhyme for 
her. You know it, I dare say : — 

“ Lit-tle Boy Blue, come blow up your horn ; 

The sheep’s in the mead-ow, the cow’s in the corn. 

Where is the boy that tends the sheep? 

Un-der the hay-stack, fast a-sleep.” 

Jane said it in a way that made 
Bell laugh, and she laughed so 
long that the chil-dren came to 
see what was the fun. 


230 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 



“ Tom,” said Rose, “ let’s play 
that.” 


“ How can we % ” asked Tom. 
“Why, yon know, Mike has just 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


231 


raked up the hay out in the lot, 
and it makes quite a stack. 

u Now you be Lit-tle Boy Blue, 
and play you were a-sleep, by the 
hay-stack, and play we were sheep 
and cows. Then we will get 
through the gate, in-to the gar- 
den, and in-to the front yard ; and 
then you wake up all at once, and 
blow your horn, and chase us out.” 

“ Good ! ” said Tom ; “ but what 
shall I do for a horn ? ” 

“0, take a-ny thing, and say, 
1 Toot, toot,’ with it;” and Rose 
made a sound like a horn. 


232 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


“ No,” said Jane ; “ go ask Mike 
to cut you a piece of a pump-kin 
vine, and show you how to blow 
the horn with it. 

“ But look here, Rose,” she 
called, as the young ones were all 
rush-ing off; “your mam-ma said 
I must give Bell to you to take 
care of, for I have some work 
to do.” 

“0, well,” said Rose, “she can 
be a lit-tle lamb, and run with us ! 
Put on her lit-tle white hood, 
please, Jane.” 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


233 


Of course Bell liked the fan as 
much as a-ny one. Fred and Nell 
Ray came up just as they had got 
a horn, and were all read-y to play ; 
they had leave to stay two hours, 
and play with the chil-dren, and 
Rose said they were just in time. 

Some of them were sheep, and 
ran in the front yard, and cried, 
Baa ! And the rest were the 
cows, and went to the corn patch 
in the gar-den, and cried, Moo ! 

Then one would go near the 
fence, and cry out, “ Lit-tle Boy 


234 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


Blue, come blow up your horn ! ” 
and so on ; and up Tom would 
jump, blow his horn, and rush 
af-ter them ; and they would all 
run, pell-mell, to get in-to their 
own yard. 

They played this some time, and 
then they took Fred and Nell to 
the swing. 

Af-ter tea, the chil-dren were 
tell-ing their mam-ma of their new 
game of Lit-tle Boy Blue, and 
how they played Jo-seph, too. 

Mam-ma said, “ Those plays' 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


235 


make me think of my lit-tle cous- 
in Carl. Do you re-mem-ber 
Carl, Kate ? ” 

Aunt Kate smiled, and said she 
did, ver-y well. “ What a boy he 
was ! ” said she. 

“ 0, mam-ma, do tell us a-bout 
him ! Is he a-live now ? ” 

“Yes, he is a man now, but I 
have not seen him for years. 

“ When Aunt Kate and I were 
lit-tle girls, and we had two broth- 
ers to play with us, who are both 
dead now, Carl used to come 


236 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


some-times, with his moth-er, to 
make us a vis-it; and when we 
heard he was com-ing, we used to 
set our hearts on hav-ing a nice 
time, and a great deal of fun. 

“I nev-er saw such a child as 
he was to get up plays. If we 
had some play-things, it was all 
right, and he would get all sorts 
of fun out of them. 

“But if we had none, he was 
nev-er at a loss for some new 
game to a-muse us all.” 

“ Can’t you tell us a-bout some 
of them, mam-ma ? ” 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


237 


“ I wish I could think of them, 
to tell you. I can re-mem-ber 
how he used to get us all in such 
a gale, laugh-ing at his pranks, 
that our moth-er would come to 
the door to see what did a-muse 
us so much. And most like-ly she 
would stop and laugh, too.” 

“ 0, do try to think of some of 
them, mam-ma.” 

“Well, let me see. One day he 
got us all to play-ing witch. 

“ He got an old brass ket-tle in 
the yard, and put all sorts of odds 


238 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


and ends in it, and set it on sticks, 
to play there was a fire un-der it. 

11 Then he coaxed me to let him 
cut off my old doll’s arm, to throw 
in-to the pot, — or ‘ caul-dron,’ as 
he said it was, — for a charm. 

“ I cried a lit-tle, for I loved my 
old rag doll, Meg, more than my 
bet-ter and new-er ones. But 
Carl said the witch-es must have 
a child’s hand in the caul-dron to 
make the charm work; so I let 
him do it, and I bound up poor 
Meg’s stump of an arm with all 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


239 


care, and gave her a great deal of 
love and pit-y, for some days. 

“Then we all put on old caps, 
and hats, and tag-rags, and Carl 
had a stick to stir up the pot, and 
made us all march round and 
round it, and sing, — 

* Doub-le, doub-le, toil and troub-le : 

Fire burn, and caul-dron bub-ble.’ 

Then, when we got through, we 
rode off on broom-sticks.” 

. “ 0, what a queer play ! ” cried 
Rose. 

“ Yes ) I am sure I can-not tell 


240 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


where the child could have heard 
all that stuff. He must have 
heard some one read a play that 
has those two lines in it, and 
picked up the rest” 

“ I should not like to play 
witch,” said Rose; “and I would 
not let a boy cut off my doll’s 
arm ! ” 

“ I do not think it was a ver-y 
good play,” said mam-ma, “though 
it made us laugh, at the time. 

“ I think of one more play 
that he got up one day, but I 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 241 

should not like to have you play 
that? 

“ What was it, mam-ma ? ” 

“ Carl had been told the sto-ry 
of the priests who marched round 
a great cit-y sev-en times, and 
blew with their trum-pets ; and 
when they had gone all round it 
sev-en times, they gave a great 
shout, and the walls of the cit-y 
fell down, and the men of war 
went in, and took the cit-y, and 
all that was in it.” 

“You have told us that sto-ry, 


16 


242 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


too, mam-ma,” said Tom. “It is 
in the Bi-ble — is-n’t it ? ” 

“Yes; well, Carl got the boys 
out one day, with horns cut from 
pump-kin vines, such as you had 
for £ Lit-tle Boy Blue;’ and they 
marched round and round the 
house, blow-ing their horns, and 
now and then they would stop and 
shout. 

“Moth-er went out to ask what 
they were do-ing, and Carl said, 
‘We want to see the walls fall 
down ! ? ” 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


243 


w 0, what a fun-ny boy ! Did 
he think they would ? ” 

“ Why did you say you did not 
want us to play that, mam-ma ? ” 
said Rose. 

“Be-cause, dear, it was by the 
word of God that the priests 
did that, and it was by His 
pow-er that the walls of the 
cit-y fell at last, and it is not 
right to make sport of the words 
of God. 

“Carl was a bit of a boy, not 
old-er than jSTed, when he got up 


244 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


this play, and he did not think of 
this.” 

“Was it wrong for us to play 
Jo-seph, mam-ma ? ”• said Rose. 

“That was not just the same 
thing. I do not know that there 
was a-ny harm in that. It was 
the acts of men that you took for 
your play. 

“ But I think the best rule is, on 
the whole, not to play with the 
words of the Bi-ble, or Bi-ble sto- 
ries. My lit-tle ones have games 
e-nough with-out that.” 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


245 


“Yes, mam-ma,” said Rose; 
“ and we will have that for our 
rule — won’t we, Tom ? ” 

Tom said, Yes, to this, and so 
did the lit-tle ones; but they did 
not quite know what it meant. 


246 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


XXL 

GOOD BY. 

And now we have come to the 
end of this book, too; and we 
must say Good by to our Five 
Hap-py Chil-dren. 

I should like to take you 
through the fall, with them, and 
to the time when the new church 
was done, and they had a min-is- 
ter to preach in it. 

And tell you how a nice Sun- 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


247 


day school was be-gun, and Aunt 
Kate took care of the lit-tle ones, 
— the In-fant Class, as it was 
called, — and what a nice teach-er 
she made. 

Then of the fine sleigh-rides, 
when win-ter came, with the two 
hor-ses, which, of course, could go 
fast-er with a big load of chil-dren 
than Dick could a-lone. 

And how fast Rose and Tom 
got on with their les-sons that 
win-ter; and how Ked and I-da 
al-most learned to read, too. 


248 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


But, dear me ! if I should go 
on in this way, year by year, we 
should need a big tea box, or some 
such large box, to hold the Rose 
Dale books! 

I hope you have liked my sto- 
ry, and I hope that what I have 
told you of Rose, Tom, Ned, I-da, 
and ba-by Bell, will help to keep 
one thing in your mind : — 

That is, that the way for dear 
lit-tle chil-dren to be hap-py is, to 
love each oth-er, and be kind to 
each oth-er ; to mind their pa-pa 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


249 


and mam-ma, and those who may 
have charge of them ; and to love 
God, to love His ho-ly Word, and 
try to do His will. 

This makes me think of one 
thing. As I have told you that 
Rose liked to try to make up ver- 
ses, I will just put in a few lines 
that she wrote when she was 
a-bout nine years old, which you 
may like to see: — 

MOTHER KNOWS BEST. 

" One thing I am sure of, 

That moth-er knows best; 

And if I mind my moth-er, 

She’ll care for the rest. 


250 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


“ For when but a ba-by, 

She nursed me with care, 

And made a great ma-ny 
Nice clothes for my wear. 

“ And when 1 was old-er, 

She taught me to talk : 

How de-light-ed she was 

When I first learned to walk ! 

“Then she is much old-er 
And wis-er than I ; 

So to please this dear moth-er, 

I’ll faith-ful-ly try. 

“Yes, I’ll love and I’ll hon-or 
My fath-er and moth-er, 

And try to be kind 
To each sis-ter and broth-er.” 

I dare say yon have nice hymns 
to tell you this same thing ; but as 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


251 


such a lit-tle girl wrote these lines, 
I thought you would like to read 
them. 

It may be, that at some time, if 
I find that the dear lit-tle ones like 
these books, I may be a-ble to 
make some more Rose Dale books, 
and tell you more of these five 
hap-py chil-dren, as they grew 
old-er. 

But I must not prom-ise, for I 
may not be a-ble to do it. 

I think I have kept my prom-ise 
to make you some books with but 


252 


FIVE HAPPY CHILDREN. 


few hard words in them — have 
I not? 

And I do not want to make a 
prom-ise which I am not sure that 
I can keep as well. 

And now, Good by. God bless 
you, my dear lit-tle read-ers, and 
keep you in His ho-ly ways, for 
Je-sus’ sake ! 




































































































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